Legal Advocates Push Massachusetts to Investigate Federal Agents for Civil Rights Abuses

New Letter Urges Massachusetts Lawyer Normal and District Attorneys to Launch Prison Investigations into Illegal Assaults, Detentions, and Political Retaliation by Federal Brokers In opposition to Massachusetts Residents

BOSTON, MA — Free Speech For Individuals, a nationwide nonpartisan authorized advocacy group, immediately submitted a letter urging Massachusetts Lawyer Normal Andrea Campbell and the District Attorneys of Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex and Worcester Counties to open prison investigations into the illegal actions of federal brokers working in Massachusetts.

The submission particulars a constant sample of prison exercise by federal brokers throughout Massachusetts since Might 2025, together with illegal detentions, violent assaults, kidnappings, and racially motivated concentrating on of communities of coloration, as a part of the Trump Administration’s so-called “Patriot” operations. Free Speech For Individuals’s letter alleges that these acts have been a part of a coordinated prison conspiracy directed by President Donald Trump and senior administration officers, meant to not implement federal legislation however to punish and terrorize immigrants and political opponents.

“Federal brokers are usually not imposing the legislation, they’re punishing President Trump’s perceived political enemies,” mentioned Courtney Hostetler, Authorized Director for Free Speech For Individuals. “The President is utilizing federal brokers as his personal military to detain and kidnap residents and terrorize communities. Massachusetts officers should shield the state’s residents.”

Introduced by the Division of Homeland Safety in Might and September, 2025, “Patriot 1.0” and “Patriot 2.0” have been purportedly geared toward apprehending gang-affiliated noncitizens. But public proof, together with Trump’s personal remarks, exhibits that the operation’s true intent was to “brutalize, terrorize, and intimidate” residents of Massachusetts.

Federal brokers engaged in a collection of violent and illegal actions, together with:

Detaining people, together with minors, with out trigger;
Utilizing extreme pressure towards residents and residents in the midst of immigration arrests, together with assaulting residents, smashing automobile home windows, and throwing residents to the bottom;
Raiding companies with out warrants or possible trigger;
Deporting people with out due course of;

The letter outlines quite a few violations of Massachusetts prison legislation, together with assault and battery, assault and battery for the aim of intimidation, in addition to potential hate crimes and civil rights violations. It highlights that Supremacy Clause immunity doesn’t shield federal brokers who act outdoors lawful authority or have interaction in conduct they know to be illegal. The letter additionally highlights that Trump himself can’t declare immunity for these illegal actions since they don’t qualify as official acts.

“Committing crimes isn’t a part of a federal agent’s job duties,” mentioned Ben Clements, Chairman and Senior Authorized Advisor at Free Speech For Individuals. “When the president or his subordinates order federal brokers to commit crimes in Massachusetts to terrorize their political enemies, state and native prosecutors have a accountability to guard Massachusetts residents and implement state prison legislation.”

Free Speech For Individuals emphasizes that whereas federal prosecutors have been compromised by the administration’s personal misconduct, state and native authorities retain impartial jurisdiction to research and prosecute crimes dedicated inside their borders.

“Given the federal authorities’s unwillingness to police itself, states are one of many solely sources of accountability for residents who’ve been victimized by federal brokers,” mentioned Ben Horton, Counsel at Free Speech For Individuals. “Massachusetts should act now to guard its communities and its legal guidelines from abuse.”

Learn the letter to state and native prosecutors in Massachusetts right here.