Federal agents made two arrests at an apartment complex in Great Barrington early Tuesday morning. The town's police chief, Paul Storti, said they received a phone call from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at around 5:30 a.m. to let them know that they were in the area, but they didn't know where they were going.
"We don't know anything because we don't communicate or assist them. We don't enforce immigration law,” Storti said.
He said the town's trust policy prohibits their department from assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Residents also witnessed federal immigration agents at the apartment complex downtown.
Ben Elliot, a select board member who works at The Triplex Cinema — the movie theater near where the ICE raid took place — said he saw a large SWAT-like vehicle outside the Barrington House complex.
"Officers came out escorting a man and placed him in the back of the SWAT vehicle,” Elliot said. “They were all wearing tactical gear, bulletproof vests and heavy, high powered weapons on their persons. One officer had a battering ram that I don't believe they ended up using.”
Elliot said the federal agents did not readily identify themselves to himself and the other people gathered and that they were not wearing badges.
NEPM reached out to ICE for comment, but they have not responded.
This is a developing story.
