Bearing Witness at ICE: Building a Nonviolent Community of Resistance

by Dawn Olcott

Bearing Witness at the ICE Field Office

Every Wednesday, just behind the Burlington Mall, hundreds of people gather with signs, some in costumes or adorned with flags. They shine a spotlight on the horrific conditions at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office at 1000 District Avenue in Burlington, Mass. As described in the July 2025 IndivisiBlog, people are still illegally detained for days in this nondescript office building. 

The building is the ICE Boston field office serving New England and was not intended as a detention facility. The town of Burlington has confirmed that the office building is not zoned for holding people overnight. Yet people are still housed in crowded cells for days, sleeping on cement floors with foil blankets. There is one toilet in the open. There are no showers, no handwashing soap, and no medical care. The food is inadequate, and women are not supplied with menstrual products. Agents take money and IDs from people as they are brought here and do not return these items, even if the people are released. Individuals are often flown to detention centers in other parts of the country, with no notification to their families or lawyers.

The Bearing Witness co-founders, Jared and Laurie Berezin, first stood out in front of the field office by themselves in April 2025. The next week, five friends joined them. Attendance swelled over the spring as local religious leaders joined, demonstrating the power of a few to grow a nonviolent, peaceful movement. In the summer, Indivisible and other organizations promoted the standouts, and by fall, weekly attendance had reached 750. In bitterly cold January, after the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, attendance was 930. 

“Noncooperation with evil is just as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.” 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Building a movement

A Bearing Witness goal is to “build the movement and achieve extreme solidarity.” The organizers embody this goal, supporting the movement beyond organizing logistics. The organizers include the co-founders and a dedicated group of local religious leaders. Many are featured speakers at Indivisible and ally events. They have hosted a Bearing Witness community meeting and a safety training at a local church. Two religious leaders come by each weekday morning to speak and pray with people waiting in line for routine check-ins at the field office and gather congregants in support upon request. 

Guest speakers are also central to what happens. They focus the public eye on the plight of those detained and how their absence affects us all. These speakers are lawyers, health care workers, immigrant rights activists, union representatives, veterans, local officials, and state and federal politicians. They let participants know they are central to successful advocacy.

Bearing Witness doesn’t end when the standout is over

In the grassy area by the two trees alongside the field office, musicians lead singing; medics distribute water here in summer and hand warmers in winter. Volunteers gather groceries here for families checking in at the facility and for a regional food pantry. In this space, organizers and guest speakers address the gathering, emphasizing solidarity in peaceful resistance. 

The protest fosters community and serves as a hub for learning, hope and networking. Participants make new friends and build connections that further strengthen the movement. A regular participant said, “When Bearing Witness is over, what makes it unique is that it doesn’t end there; people go home, connect with others, and are inspired to do more.” 

As a result, there are now almost daily standouts at the field office in Burlington and at other locations. These include FixICE on Mondays and Tuesdays, Justice4All on Thursdays, De-ICE Hanscom on Fridays, and No Fear Street Theater on Saturdays. (See sidebar for links.)

Unique actions include the 50501 veterans-led 12-hour vigil at the field office in October, where veterans gathered to recite their vow to uphold the Constitution. A sign brigade took place the day after Thanksgiving on Mall Road. A group gathered several evenings in December for nighttime caroling.

“Like Martin Luther King, we need to keep the focus on the commitment to nonviolence and the goal of extreme solidarity. If we lose that nonviolent approach, we become what we allege to hate, and the effort becomes moot.”

Jared Berezin, January 27, 2026

The Town of Burlington — frustrated but not giving up

In early October 2025, Burlington Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution demanding that the ICE facility end overnight detentions and inhumane conditions. However, due to federal law taking precedence, the town has been unable to take action. Burlington filed an injunction request in district court to inspect the facility after being turned down by the Department of Homeland Security earlier in the year. The request included affidavits from Rep. Seth Moulton and Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a Milford teen who was detained there. The request was denied due to the affidavits being dated six months earlier. Town officials have not given up but say they are frustrated and have explored every available legal option.

Burlington police are also present weekly. They have placed limitations on the gathering space over time, but officers on duty tend to be polite and work with event marshals to effectively manage a small number of Trump supporters who stand across the street.

Where is the Massachusetts congressional delegation?

In July 2025, Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren declared they would conduct oversight of the DHS ICE actions in Burlington and led the entire Massachusetts delegation in writing to DHS. Warren said, “We’re sounding the alarm. ICE’s abuse of power has to end.” Reps. Moulton and Jake Auchincloss and House of Representatives Minority Whip Katherine Clark visited the field office in July. Markey followed up with a series of letters and an oversight visit on December 12. 

Moulton, Markey and Clark attended Bearing Witness at varying times in 2025. All spoke eloquently about the unacceptable conditions at the facility and expressed appreciation for the dedication and efficacy of those gathered but did not attempt to enter the field office after addressing the crowd. 

In June 2025, DHS established a policy that requires members of Congress to provide advance notice before conducting an oversight inspection. This allows ICE to prepare and potentially move detainees to another facility. 

On December 17, 2025, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction in response to a lawsuit, freezing the DHS advance notice requirement. Despite a campaign led by the Greater Assabet Indivisible Network that urged them to visit, not one of the Massachusetts congressional delegation conducted an oversight inspection in Burlington before DHS created a new rule on January 8, 2026, that again requires seven days’ advance notice. The delegation was given another chance on February 2 when a new temporary injunction was put in place for 14 days. 

This week, Rep. Clark arrived for an oversight visit with the court order and was denied entry. 

Dawn Olcott is a writer for Indivisible Mass Coalition’s IndivisiBlog and a member of Indivisible Maynard Area’s leadership team.