Twice in one month ICE police and other forces have raided immigrants in the City of Chelsea, Massachusetts after its city council proclaimed it sanctuary city on June 4. The first raid took place on August 8 at the parking lot of the Market Basket. Then ICE explained they were going after criminal elements trafficking in falsified documents. They detained about 30 brazilian people, and released seven names to the press.

The second raid was larger and included Chelsea, but also extended to East Boston, Everett, Lynn, Revere and Somerville. This time they justified their operation as going after members of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha gang, composed mostly of Salvadoran nationals. ICE however has declared to The Globe on 9/1 that the nationality of the 36 people in detention can be traced to El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They also say that they cannot release their names because they were all detained not for criminal charges but for immigration reasons.

Something is not right here and we must confront this irregular situation that spreads fears and panick in our neighborhood and demand that ICE gets out of our communities. We also must demand that Chelsea city officials and the police in particular respect the democratic ordinance passed by the City Council.

I took pictures of the event, and used my digital camera to record some of the speeches.  I didn't really have the time to edit the footage very well, but I did want to put Reverend Walter Coleman's speech on YouTube for the world to see. Coleman is the reverend who provided sanctuary to Elvira Arellano and her U.S. citizen son Saul, for over a year.  Elvira is now travelling throughout Mexico and Central America.  Check it out: