After Recent ICE Detention in Watertown, School & City Officials Were Asked About Plans & Protections

Following the detention of a Watertown man by federal immigration enforcement agents on April 10, School and City officials discussed actions being taken or planned by local officials.

At about 9 a.m. on Friday, April 10, a man was taken from his vehicle on Rutland Road by ICE agents after they broke the window. Witnesses contacted the LUCE hotline, which got in touch with the Watertown Rapid Response Network (RRN) (a group of about 250 residents with “concerns about the current immigration enforcement”) who contacted the man’s wife. The man was taken to a detention facility in Plymouth, according to a member of the RRN.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a member the Rapid Response Network requested that City officials “issue an executive order that prohibits City resources from being used for immigration enforcement, prohibits immigration activities on City property, requires valid warrants before ICE enters City buildings, ensures transparency and community notifications regarding ICE activity, and protects every Watertown residents Constitutional and human rights.”

City Council President Mark Sideris said he has received emails from constituents, and heard public comment at the Council and Monday’s School Committee meetings.

“I will be bringing forward some information based on discussions that I’m having with the Manager (George Proakis) and the Police Chief (Justin Hanrahan) on what we’re doing to keep this community safe,” Sideris said. “I’m also going to include what we’ve done, and we talked about at the School Committee meeting, and we will have that discussion at the next meeting (on April 28).”

The ICE action was the first that the RRN has been aware of in Watertown since Nov. 4, and the group estimates between 10 and 13 people have been detained in the City limits since immigration enforcement has been intensified in 2025. In May 2025, two men were detained on Maple Street near the Mass Pike exit in Newton Corner. Detainments have taken place in surrounding communities, including at the Waltham District Court, which serves Watertown.

The detainment took place less than a mile from Cunniff Elementary School. On Monday, members of the RRN asked the School Committee what plans the Watertown Public Schools have in place when something occurs near or impacts a school, and urged Schools officials to follow the school defense toolkit endorsed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

In February, the School Committee adopted a resolution “protecting the rights of immigrant students and their families.” The resolution had language about what protections the Watertown Schools would provide, but did not include details.

Superintendent Dede Galdston provided some details about the WPS plans and protocols. The district began looking at how to respond in the winter of 2025. She said the Watertown Schools have had to respond after prior ICE actions.

“We have had incidents where families have been very impacted by the actions that are being taken, to the point of our social emotional support staff staying, waiting, working with the child, making sure that they found the right person to go home with,” Galdston said. “It’s not like this has not happened. It has, and it has happened at the high school level too, with students who may be 18 — making sure that if they needed anything, and they have come to leadership, they’ve come to their guidance counselors, in terms of, what can you do to support me and we are there for whatever they need.”

If ICE agents are seen in the area of a school, Galdston said, staff members have been told to find their principal, and who would contact the Superintendent.

“Then I will take care of whatever needs to be taken care of,” Galdston said. ” The rule is, don’t engage. And they know the protocols for what to do.”

Each school has a critical incident team that is trained on how to respond to a variety of types of incidents, including immigration enforcement.

“They know the protocols around what to do if ICE agents were in the neighborhood,” Galdston said. “We would more than likely put the school in a shelter in place, just to make sure that our students are not necessarily impacted visually by what’s happening outside, and trying to take care of our kids within and then checking in to make sure that there’s nothing that we need to do, and to keep our kids in the school until we’re able to make sure there’s a safe transmission to the right caregiver.”

The Watertown Schools have been following the recommendations of the MTA’s toolkit, including gathering information in one place.

“What I learned in January is, while I knew that we had everything in place it was in many places, not just in one place,” Galdston said. “So having the toolkit is a place where we can bring everything together. There’s a team of people who are working at that currently.”

One more plan the Watertown School officials must complete is what to do if there is no parent or other caregiver available for a student.

“The last thing that I think that we need to do is finding out a way to gather volunteers within our school community if there’s a situation where a child might need to be somewhere overnight,” Galdston said. “Like, who can take a child in, and we have people who will do it, but knowing exactly who will do it is one of those pieces that we’re still working on at this time.”