ICE Accountability at Burlington, MA Detention Center

TLDR: Raising funding for a better drone to conduct ICE-accountability activism in Burlington, MA.

I regularly participate in several activist groups in Burlington, MA, which is the location for the regional ICE facility for New England. Although it is not a registered detention facility and not zoned for overnight occupation, it is nonetheless being used to hold several dozen immigrants in unhealthy and inhumane conditions. The facility is the site of many recurring protests and several small grassroots initiatives. I have been participating in one such initiative to document ICE's treatment of detainees as they are unloaded from the vans into the facility. The unloading area is surrounded by a privacy fence, but I have developed a method to record the area using drones.

ICE does not have any control over the airspace above the facility, and so it is just a matter of obtaining certification, training and authorization from the FAA to fly in the area. I have done this for multiple test-flights using a cheap drone and have not encountered any administrative problems. The only problem now is a technical one, since the cheap $40 drone used for my proof-of-concept is not reliable enough for complete missions.

This GoFundMe is to raise money for a more powerful drone. I have two goals: the next step up in drone hardware would be a $700 FlightElf Specter and should suffice for the missions. The fence is not far from the public sidewalk where I will be piloting the drone and the low-altitude provides shelter from the wind. However, if there is enough interest to meet the $7000 goal, I can get a Parrot ANAFI USA military-grade drone designed for search-and-rescue operations. It is equipped with a telephoto lens, infrared and night-vision cameras and will undoubtedly be a powerful tool to safeguard the rights of civilians in these uncertain times. Please consider donating to support this humanitarian mission!

Here are some more relevant details:

- I will be flying under a recreational drone license and none of the footage obtained will be used for monetary gain.

- The footage obtained will not be used to dox any ICE agent. If any illegal activity is observed by the drone, it will be shared with local law enforcement who will handle the investigation. The goal of these missions is to document the physical health of detainees as they enter the facility, which may prompt a wellness check on the facility to ensure the detainee's safety.

- The missions will be conducted entirely above-board, following all the necessary FAA guidelines and protocols. This condition will force ICE to follow the same official, administrative pathway if they attempt to impede this initiative.

- The only legal countermeasure ICE could take to impede this initiative would be to request a TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) above their facility, but such restrictions are granted only in cases of natural disasters or high-profile flights. They would also be temporary by design if issued. Such a restriction would also affect the BED airport and the nearby hospital medevac helipad, so I am confident that ICE will be powerless to stop the missions.

- From my initial flight, it was clear that ICE agents took notice of the drone's presence. Because of my preemptive advising of the local police department, a quick call by the ICE agents reassured them that I was authorized to fly in the area and that the drone did not pose a threat to the agents' safety. Whatever opinions they form about the drone's mission will be theirs alone, and the drone is not intended to be a distraction for ICE's operations.

- Any funds raised in excess of the two goals will be spent on additional battery packs and accessories to reduce the downtime of the drone. In the unlikely event that a multiple of the final goal is reached, additional drones will be purchased and shared with other activist groups.

- The drone models selected are manufactured in the US in order to avoid any present or future concerns regarding foreign cyber-security threats (e.g., DJI drones are made in China and could be banned in the near future). This choice to use US drones is to remove another argument ICE could use to ban the missions.