To facilitate improved observation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity at Hanscom Field, the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) is requesting that the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) allow public observation without duration and recording equipment restrictions and install a publicly viewable livestream system showing airport activity.
Author: Denise Gieseke
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Activist Evenings
When we began organizing Activist Evenings, An Indivisible Group, we thought it was going to be a sprint to defeat Trump. We got help throwing together a website and muddled through setting up communication. The sprint has turned into an ultra marathon! Our goal is to continue building community and together strengthening opposition to the self-dealing, traitorous billionaires intent on tearing down democracy.
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Postcards for the De-ICE Hanscom Webcam Campaign
The De-ICE Hanscom Coalition’s team of Habeas Flight Verifiers has documented 114 ICE flights from Hanscom Field since October 7, 2025. By counting the SUVs, vans, and buses used to transport detainees, they estimate that between 2,221 and 4,310 New England residents have passed through Hanscom Field on these flights.
Many of these people have no criminal record and have had no bond hearing or access to legal counsel. Hanscom Field is owned and operated by Massport. The coalition is asking Massport to install a publicly viewable webcam system so that lawyers can identify their clients and families can locate their loved ones.
A similar system has monitored ICE flights at King County Airport in Seattle since 2023, providing a strong precedent for this request. We urge you to write postcards to Governor Healey and the Massport board demanding webcams for ICE flights at Hanscom.
We are asking each person to write 8 postcards, one to each member of the Massport board. You are welcome to download and print the postcard design, addresses, and scripts for your next group meeting or stop by our Friday standout to purchase packets. Cards are $5 per packet, each containing stamps, short scripts, and address labels for 6 or 8 cards.
Questions? hanscomicestandout@gmail.com
Script Ideas
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Address Labels to print for the 8 Massportboard members
(*Note* Each address is here multiple times. It’s also fine to address cards by hand.)
Postcard Front (2 options)
Postcard Back
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Hanscom Field Advisory Group Wants Cameras Installed to Show ICE Operations in Bedford
The motion to install cameras followed a presentation by the De-ICE Hanscom Coalition, a volunteer group that opposes ICE flights at the airport. Human Rights First reported there have been 74 ICE-related flights at Hanscom Field as of June 30, compared to 127 total last year.
Todd Palmer, spokesperson for the coalition, said activists are asking for something similar to the setup in [King County, Washington]. The airport there maintains a log of ICE flights and provides four live camera views of the airfield.
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Oversight. Dignity. Accountability.
Immigrant justice means ensuring that all immigrants, regardless of status, are treated with dignity, protected by due process and human rights, and able to live without fear of discrimination, detention, or family separation. Communities are stronger, and benefit when everyone can live safely and with opportunity.
Massachusetts is increasingly affected by expanded ICE enforcement, including heightened activity across the state, renewed deportation flights from Hanscom and other regional airports, and the growth of immigration detention nationwide. Reports of overcrowding, inadequate medical care, poor sanitation, limited legal access, and the detention of vulnerable people at the Burlington ICE Field Office underscore the need for stronger congressional oversight.
The Indivisible Mass Coalition has developed a toolkit for calling on Members of Congress to coordinate oversight visits to the Burlington facility, thoroughly inspect conditions, and publicly report their findings. We want to ensure that oversight is persistent, credible, and difficult to evade, rather than limited to isolated or tightly managed visits, and that the public is made aware of the findings of oversight visits.
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De-ICE Hanscom Standouts
Special Programs Oct. 9, Oct 16, Oct. 30! Please join us Fridays, from 1:00 to 2:30, at the Hanscom Rotary (intersection of Hanscom Dr. and Old Bedford Rd. in Lincoln, MA.) Please park along Old Bedford Road or Hanscom Drive without impeding traffic or blocking bike lanes.
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A Must-Listen Podcast: Worst Airline Ever
Independent journalist Gillian Brockell and activist “JJ in DC” take you inside the hidden world of ICE Air, tell you why it is such a key part of ICE’s deportation machine, and what you can do about it.
In episode 1, JJ from DC gives a shoutout to the contributions of unnamed members of the De-ICE Hanscom team.
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Signature Aviation:Stop servicing ICE
We are asking state pension fund officials to engage their investment managers and demand answers. Signature refused to service ICE flights at Boeing Field in 2019 — documented in sworn federal testimony — and faced no legal consequences. The company’s claim that it has no choice is contradicted by its own past conduct. Pension trustees have a fiduciary duty to ask hard questions when a portfolio holding carries material reputational and ESG risk.
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At Seattle’s Boeing Field, Real-Time Video Offers a Rare Glimpse of America’s Troubled Deportation Flights
While news organizations have reported on some of these incidents aboard what the government calls ICE Air, key details about how the system works would still be hidden were it not for a group of researchers who are now part of the work inside the observation room.
At Seattle’s Boeing Field, Real-Time Video Offers a Rare Glimpse of America’s Troubled Deportation Flights
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6,500
The number of human beings on deportation fights from Hanscom Field in 2025. These flights continue to this day.
