Pressley Has Stood in Vigorous Defense of Immigrant Communities in MA 7^th and Nationwide, Fighting to Bring Detained Neighbors Home

Press Availability Video (YouTube)

BURLINGTON, MA – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley visited the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Boston Field Office in Burlington, to conduct oversight of the operations and conditions of the facility.  Rep. Pressley engaged with ICE staff and leadership in a closed-door tour and discussion in the facility.

Following the visit, Rep. Pressley held a press availability to share what she learned and reiterate her commitment to fighting for the human rights and dignity of our neighbors and holding agencies accountable.

During the press availability, Rep. Pressley engaged with local organizers who have held weekly protests over the last several months at the Burlington ICE facility to support immigrant community members and their families.

A transcript of Congresswoman Pressley’s remarks at the press availability is available below, and the full video is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Conducts Oversight Visit at Burlington ICE Facility, Gets Answers, Demands Protections for Detained Community Members and Families
Burlington ICE Facility

March 12, 2026

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley here in my capacity as a Member of Congress and as a member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to conduct some real-time oversight.

I came here to observe the facilities and to ask questions and to demand answers on behalf of my constituents.

I’m leaving here with my position unchanged—that we need to defund and abolish ICE.

And, you know, it’s really important that we continue to conduct vigorous oversight.

I’ve had a number of constituents who have been unlawfully processed and detained.

And because of the dedicated work of my staff and working cooperatively with organizations like LUCE and other advocacy and immigrants’ rights organizations, we’ve been able to get a lot of people freed and reunited with their families and back home.

That being said, the trauma for what they’ve experienced will remain.

At the end of the day, ICE has only been in existence since 2003.

Immigration enforcement should not be happening under DHS.

This work has nothing to do with law and order if you are actively violating people’s constitutional rights of due process and, in many instances, their civil and human rights.

And it certainly has nothing to do with public safety if we are sowing terror and trauma and chaos.

And so, this is one tool available to us in the work of oversight writ large.

Appreciate you all being here because you recognize that our freedoms and our destinies are tied. And these are our neighbors.

As immigrant communities have been under siege by the Trump administration, Rep. Pressley has been a leading voice in pushing back and defending our immigrant neighbors.

In recent weeks, Rep. Pressley has shone light on the inhumane attacks by ICE on immigrant communities and pushed back against the reckless agency. During Oversight Democrats’ bicameral shadow hearing on the use of violence by ICE, Rep. Pressley highlighted the urgency of the moment by uplifting stories of traumatized community members she met with during her trip to Minnesota with Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and invoking the horrifying detention case of five-year-old Liam Ramos.

In the Massachusetts 7^th, Rep. Pressley has recognized and supported the many families torn apart and children suffering from the detention of a loved one—including harrowing attacks on Massachusetts families in their daily lives, abductions of dedicated workers at the Allston car wash, visiting Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk during her unlawful detention and pushing to bring her home, and more.

In February 2025, Rep. Pressley convened immigrant entrepreneurs and small business owners, community advocates, and municipal leaders to hear of the essential role that immigrant-owned small businesses play in Massachusetts’ economy and communities and how they are suffering under Trump’s attacks.

In January 2026, Rep. Pressley and Senator Markey held a field hearing with members of the Haitian community on the importance of extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. Testimony was documented in the Congressional Record.

Rep. Pressley also leads a discharge petition that could compel the House vote on a bill to require the Trump Administration to extend TPS for Haiti for three years. 

In February 2026, during Oversight Democrats’ bicameral shadow hearing on the use of violence by ICE, Rep. Pressley demanded Congress end qualified immunity to ensure federal law enforcement officers are held accountable for breaking the law and murdering civilians. Rep. Pressley called on her colleagues not to settle for bare minimum reforms in funding negotiations for the Department of Homeland Security, instead urging them to fight to rebalance power and restore accountability.

In January 2026, at the invitation of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Congresswoman Pressley went to Minneapolis to meet with organizers and community members impacted by ICE’s violent operation in Minnesota, where they have murdered bystanders, terrorized schools and small businesses, and abducted children and parents.

Following the ICE murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Congresswoman Pressley and Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Qualified Immunity Abolition Act of 2026, which builds on the lawmakers’ prior work by granting victims the right to sue federal law enforcement officers—not just state and local—for civil rights violations and abolishing the defense of qualified immunity in these suits. The expanded legislation would help deliver accountability for families abused by law enforcement, including ICE agents.

Congresswoman Pressley delivered a floor speech on the need to end qualified immunity for federal law enforcement, including immigration officers. Watch the floor speech here.

In January 2026, Congresswoman Pressley condemned the ICE murder of Renee Good in Minnesota and motioned to subpoena all records and footage related to the shooting, but Republicans obstructed it. Footage of Congresswoman Pressley’s motion to subpoena is here.

In December 2025, Rep. Pressley convened and welcomed home the workers and families

impacted by the cruel and unlawful ICE raid at an Allston car wash in November. Rep. Pressley delivered a powerful speech on the House floor condemning the Allston ICE raid and defended the vibrant immigrant communities who are being maliciously stolen from their homes, ripped from their families, and unlawfully detained and deported by the Trump Administration and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In June 2025, Congresswoman Pressley convened immigrant justice advocates, local leaders, and impacted families to tell Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Hands off our immigrant neighbors. 

Rep. Pressley has also been an outspoken critic against the unlawful detention of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts PhD student, Somerville resident, and constituent of the Congresswoman’s who was unlawfully detained for weeks in retaliation for her protected speech. After weeks of advocacy and Congressional oversight, including a visit to detention centers in Louisiana, Rep. Pressley and Senator Ed Markey welcomed Ms. Öztürk to Massachusetts following her arrival from ICE detention in Louisiana.

Rep. Pressley has also spoken out against reports of ICE activity in the MA 7th and other municipalities in Massachusetts.

As a leading voice and legislator, Rep. Pressley’s advocacy to protect children from abuse and trauma dates back to her days as a Boston City Councilor. In her first term in Congress, she partnered with the late Chairman Elijah Cummings to hold the first Congressional hearing on childhood trauma on the Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Rep. Pressley leads the STRONG Support for Children Act, which would support communities in addressing childhood trauma through healing-centered, neighborhood-based, gender-responsive, culturally specific, and trauma-informed approaches that acknowledge the impact of systemic racism and inequities over generations. She has called for such trauma-informed and child-centered approaches to every issue, including: surging baby formula to Gaza, addressing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, addressing sexual harassment targeting children and women girls, committing to end gun violence, and more.

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