Markey, Warren, Massachusetts Delegation Press DHS OIG to Investigate Inhumane Conditions at Burlington ICE Facility

Letter Text (PDF)

Boston (October 16, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and the entire Massachusetts delegation- Representatives Richard Neal (MA-01), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Lori Trahan (MA-03), Jake Auchincloss (MA-04), Katherine Clark (MA-05), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), and Bill Keating (MA-09)-in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (DHS OIG) requesting an independent inspection of the Burlington ICE facility.

Over the past year, reports and evidence from advocates and attorneys show that ICE appears to have transformed the short-term administrative processing center into a de facto detention site-holding people for days and weeks in conditions that threaten their health, safety, and due process rights.

The lawmakers wrote to ICE in June 2025 following alarming reports that ICE was detaining people for days at a time despite the Burlington facility not being designed for overnight detention. ICE denied that it was violating its policies and instead pointed to their own self-inspection completed in March 2025. Members of the Massachusetts delegation have continued to exercise their constitutional responsibilities, making unannounced visits and inspecting the facility. Most recently, on September 8, 2026, Senator Warren and Representative Trahan conducted an unannounced visit to the Burlington facility.

"Days later, we learned via public reports that on the very same day that they visited, a federal judge ordered that ICE release a woman who had spent approximately four days at the facility. That woman, as described above, had recently miscarried and was denied adequate care during her multiday detention. Just one month prior, a 52-year-old woman was reportedly held at Burlington for 20 days," the lawmakers wrote.

"Congress and the public deserve immediate transparency about ICE's practices and the secretive use of this Massachusetts building as an unmonitored detention site. Congress has tasked DHS OIG under the 2024 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act to conduct unannounced inspections of ICE detention facilities-including field offices and holding facilities-to ensure compliance with detention standards. Accordingly, we request that the DHS OIG conduct an inspection of the ICE and ERO Boston Field Office, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts and share its findings with Congress," the lawmakers concluded.

Senator Markey has worked consistently to hold the Trump administration's immigration enforcement regime accountable, and to demand transparency from ICE and DHS.

• On August 18, Senator Markey led his colleagues in writing to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Dr. Mehmet Oz, and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, demanding that HHS immediately stop unlawfully transferring Medicaid data to DHS and ICE, and that DHS immediately stop unlawfully receiving Medicaid data transfers from HHS.
• On August 8, Senator Markey released a comprehensive report, titled Under the Radar II: The Second Trump Administration's Stealth Attack on the U.S. Immigration System, examining the second Trump administration's quiet, systematic efforts to dismantle the U.S. immigration system.
• On July 28, Senator Markey led 11 colleagues in writing to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, DHS Secretary Mullin, and Defense Secretary Hegseth demanding to know whether the Trump administration plans to deploy armed federal law enforcement officers at polling sites during the November 2026 elections, an escalation of the Administration's assault on free and fair elections that is clearly meant to intimidate voters.
• On July 17, Senator Markey conducted an official unscheduled oversight visit at the ICE field office in Scarborough, Maine, where he demanded answers about the recent, nearby shooting and killing of 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Guerrero by an ICE officer.
• On July 16, Senator Markey and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to the ICE Boston Field Office in Burlington, Massachusetts, demanding a full, transparent, and independent accounting of this killing, given the office's direct jurisdiction over enforcement operations in Maine and New England.
• In January, Senator Markey wrote to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Boston Acting Field Office Director David Wesling, demanding answers about conditions at the ICE field office in Burlington, Massachusetts, and the conduct of ICE agents in the Commonwealth. This letter followed Senator Markey's previous December letter to Acting Director Wesling, raising concerns about the cruel conditions at the Burlington field office.

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