Thread: MA: Burlington's center of contention

Burlington's center of contention
Immigration facility is just office, mostly
By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff | December 16, 2007

BURLINGTON - The soon-to-be-completed federal immigration-enforcement headquarters that has stirred anger and anxiety among many residents sits in a typical suburban office park near Route 128, between the Burlington Mall and Lahey Clinic.

The facility is mostly indistinguishable from other office buildings inside and out: a dark-glass exterior that bespeaks late-1970s construction; an interior that has been completely refurbished, with plenty of light wood and an airy atrium entrance; and row after row of employee cubicles, punctuated by the occasional laser printer.

But the similarities end in the southeast corner, where a fenced-in sally port shuts behind entering vehicles and leads to a set of holding rooms for detained immigrants. The holding area totals 1,104 square feet - less than 3 percent of the building's space - but its presence, and what it represents, has stirred concern and mobilized residents.

Opponents will ask Town Meeting members Wednesday night to hire a lawyer and take other steps in an 11th-hour attempt to block the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Detention and Removal Operations from using the holding rooms.

That could set up a lawsuit in which local taxpayers would foot the bills for both sides in a challenge to the town building inspector's decision to allow the project to proceed.

Lou Rubino, a Town Meeting member who has helped organize the resistance to the project, said it's worth it. "What price do you put on the quality of life?" he said.

Rubino and about two dozen other opponents have been meeting regularly over the last few weeks. They object to the project for different reasons - the prospect of illegal immigrants being shepherded to a facility in town; the surprise nature of the plans, which most in town did not learn about until this fall; the possibility that property values could be affected - but have come together to try to oppose the holding rooms. They believe the building inspector erred in granting a building permit for the project, and they hope to make a case that he misinterpreted local zoning.

Robert Murray, whose company owns the building, said he thinks fear and misinformation have distorted the reality of ICE's plans for the building. It's a quiet office facility where, among other roles, federal agents will perform same-day processing of 10 to 15 illegal immigrants a day. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have based that projection on recent averages in Boston and say they do not envision a change.)

It's not a prison, said Murray, a Burlington developer and lifelong resident, and the son of a former police chief. "There are other companies out there that are probably more dangerous than this. I'm not saying who they are, where they are, but there's other things," he said. "If I thought it was going to affect the town, I wouldn't have done it."

Murray's firm, Murray Hills Inc., bought the vacant 10 New England Executive Park in early 2005 for $4.75 million, according to town records. Shortly thereafter, Murray Hills bid on a proposal from the US General Services Administration seeking office space for ICE in the Boston area. They negotiated a 10-year, $15.4-million lease - seven years with the option for ICE to renew for three - that called for Murray to make $1.8 million in improvements.

When the project came before the town, building inspector John Clancy determined that it was primarily an office facility, and that the holding rooms were minor enough to be considered an accessory use to the office space. That meant the holding rooms and the building's function did not have to be reviewed by other town officials. The Planning Board in 2006 reviewed only the changes to the exterior, not the tenant or the project's nature.

As a result, word did not begin to spread about the project until a selectman learned about it in passing during a Red Sox playoff game. Since then, it has taken the town by storm and become the dominant topic at local board meetings and gatherings.

The town counsel agreed with Clancy's reading of the bylaws, but he told residents at a Nov. 26 forum that they could try to challenge it with the Zoning Board of Appeals and, beyond that, in Superior Court. That prompted the call for Town Meeting action to organize the challenge.

At the same forum, residents asked federal officials to hold off on requesting a certificate of occupancy - the final step in the project - at least until after the Town Meeting. The officials declined, citing a desire to quickly move the Office of Detention and Removal Operations out of its cramped Boston headquarters and into Burlington.

With the project nearly complete, Clancy on Dec. 6 granted a request to occupy all but the secure portions of the building. Last Monday, ICE officials began working from Burlington, said Bruce Chadbourne, New England field office director for Detention and Removal Operations. By Jan. 1, they will seek an occupancy certificate for the full building and begin processing illegal immigrants there, he said.

ICE is a branch of the Department of Homeland Security and a successor to the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service. ICE's other divisions in Boston - the Office of Investigations and the Office of Federal Protective Services - will remain at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, while the 120-employee Office of Detention and Removal Operations is moving to Burlington, Chadbourne said.

That office processes, detains, and arranges the deportation of illegal aliens who have been identified through ICE street investigations, border patrols, airport inspections, jail surveys, and other means. About one-third of the immigrants processed have served time for other crimes, Chadbourne said, while two-thirds have committed no crime besides immigration violations, such as overstaying a visa or sneaking into the country.

ICE plans to process the immigrants in Burlington but not detain them there long-term, a function it contracts out to county jails. In Burlington, agents will bring detainees in through the sally port and take them inside for photographing, fingerprinting, and other data entry. The process usually takes an hour or two, after which the immigrants are sent to jails to await disposition of their immigration-law cases, Chadbourne said.

The Burlington holding rooms have benches and toilets but not beds and are not designed for overnight stays, he said.

The holding rooms were off limits, for federal security reasons, when Chadbourne led a reporter on a tour of the building last week.

The remaining 41,000 square feet consisted mostly of cubicle and office space for agents and support staff, along with a first-floor reception and information area reminiscent of a Registry of Motor Vehicles office - a waiting room with teller windows where people can post bond, get information, and file reports, Chadbourne said.

The building has some distinctly law-enforcement features - like a "mat room," where federal agents can practice takedowns and tactical moves - but is largely indistinguishable from other modern office buildings.

That's the point, Chadbourne said. "We run a very low-key operation," he said.

"Once we get going . . . I don't think anyone's even going to know that we're here."

www.boston.com

Opponents will ask Town Meeting members Wednesday night to hire a lawyer and take other steps in an 11th-hour attempt to block the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Detention and Removal Operations from using the holding rooms.





Oh, this is good......suing ICE to keep them from detaining IAs. Don't stop to consider that those arrested and detained there might be dangerous and need to be off the street, just focus on the fact that you feel you have the "right" to be in this country and should not be held accountable for your criminal conduct.

Idiots.

Opponents will ask Town Meeting members Wednesday night to hire a lawyer and take other steps in an 11th-hour attempt to block the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Detention and Removal Operations from using the holding rooms.

Doesn't make sense to me--what are the townspeople trying to accomplish--having the illegals roaming around and not celled.

It's a quiet office facility where, among other roles, federal agents will perform same-day processing of 10 to 15 illegal immigrants a day...................120-employee Office of Detention and Removal Operations is moving to Burlington, Chadbourne said.

It take 120 employees to process 10-15 illegal immigrants a day???? That means it takes 8 to 10 employees to remove one illegal per day. Why? Inefficiency?

Governments will always misuse the machinery of the law as far as the state of public opinion permits.
- Emile Capouya

GET OVER IT

It s not as inefficient as you might think. In order to imagine the place in operation you need to realize that it only takes a few days to process them in. The county might hold them for ICE for ninety days.

That location is right near the Burlington Mall one of the largest in Metro Boston.

Originally Posted by MyAmerica

Opponents will ask Town Meeting members Wednesday night to hire a lawyer and take other steps in an 11th-hour attempt to block the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of Detention and Removal Operations from using the holding rooms.

Doesn't make sense to me--what are the townspeople trying to accomplish--having the illegals roaming around and not celled.

[quote:3npwxc7d] It's a quiet office facility where, among other roles, federal agents will perform same-day processing of 10 to 15 illegal immigrants a day...................120-employee Office of Detention and Removal Operations is moving to Burlington, Chadbourne said.

Governments will always misuse the machinery of the law as far as the state of public opinion permits.
- Emile Capouya[/quote:3npwxc7d]





If there's one thing I've learned, it's this:

When discussing opposition to enforcement against IAs, there is always an effort made to:

Make it appear that more are opposed than the actual number who are and;
make it appear that the implied majority opposition do not believe IAs are criminals and should not be treated as such.

It's all spin best ignored.