Massport mulling advisers’ ICE camera proposal for Hanscom

It’s now up to Massport, the quasi-public agency that operates Hanscom Field, to approve or reject proposed webcams tracking local immigration detainee flights. 

For Hanscom Field Advisory Commission member Christopher Eliot, Massport’s decision could make a larger statement about its relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

“If you aren’t going to budge on this, then you’re clearly working for ICE,” he told The Acton Bridge shortly before HFAC finalized a camera request. 

Advocates have snapped distant photos of detainees being loaded onto planes. Webcams near loading areas could offer a better view of people’s faces, which helps families and lawyers keep track as ICE shuttles them around the country, Eliot said. 

Eliot floated a webcam motion in July, and colleagues approved an amended version on August 11.

HFAC is also asking Massport to “treat all airfield observers in public areas of the airport equally” after multiple purported interactions, including one where state police “hassled” a volunteer who was tracking detainee transports, according to De-ICE Hanscom spokesperson Todd Palmer.

While they increase the public pressure, HFAC members concede they can’t force Massport’s compliance.

Massport spokesperson Jennifer Mehigan said the agency had received a letter detailing HFAC’s requests as of August 18, “and we are reviewing it.”

Eliot said he wants to “light a fire” under leaders’ chairs. 

Colleague Barbara Katzenberg adopted a more diplomatic tone, saying during HFAC’s latest meeting that “the strength of our emotions doesn’t make our leverage any stronger.”

Gov. Maura Healey, who has opposed Hanscom ICE flights, appoints part of Massport’s board. Spokesperson Jacqueline Manning avoided directly answering Bridge questions about whether Healey supports installing webcams. “We’ll continue to look for ways to protect our communities and hold ICE accountable,” she said. 

Loitering claims

Detainee flights have been one front in the fight over President Donald Trump’s immigration policy.

A White House webpage claims ICE detained 11 people in Acton from May 5, 2025 to May 13, 2026.

Massport says it can’t stop ICE-chartered planes from using Hanscom. Activists are tracking flights and have called for greater transparency. A state police spokesperson said no one has been arrested for trespassing at the airport over the last year, but confirmed one instance in June when a trooper found someone in a parked car “where loitering is prohibited.” 

The police representative told The Bridge that the person in the car said they were there to watch planes and the trooper asked them to leave.

The spokesperson said ICE wasn’t discussed during the interaction and state police remain “committed to facilitating the exercise of constitutionally protected rights in a safe and secure manner.” 

Advocates and HFAC officials have repeatedly pointed to the encounter during the weeks since.

Acton HFAC representative Terri Ackerman recalled the “loitering” claim on August 11. Katzenberg said she thinks it’s “bulls—.”

The state police “may have made that comment in good faith, not knowing any better,” she said, but “that’s why [they] need to have the guidance that this is legitimate.”

HFAC’s next meeting is scheduled for September 15.