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# Masked agents take two from East Somerville, say state and local officials
By Marc Levy
Monday, September 15, 2025
Social media
A masked agent is shown in East Somerville on Monday after taking a resident.
An East Somerville resident was taken Monday morning by federal agents, with its aftermath captured on video by another resident, state representative Mike Connolly said on social media. The Wisconsin Avenue abduction was confirmed by the city of Somerville, and by Ward 1 city councilor Matt McLaughlin, who said it was the second abduction within hours out of the neighborhood
Another resident had been taken at around midnight from a nearby street, McLaughlin said.
“Masked and menacing Homeland Security agents abducted one of my East Somerville constituents,” said Connolly, whose 26th Middlesex district also covers East Cambridge. He shared a video taken of masked agents in at least four unmarked SUVs interacting with residents after removing a man from his home.
The City Council on Thursday passed a resolution filed by JT Scott, who represents Ward 2, seeking to ban the wearing of masks by federal agents and to force them to provide identification upon request.
The Wisconsin Avenue resident was taken while he was doing his laundry, residents said. A masked man wearing a vest that labeled him as police said agents were there to arrest people “breaking the law.”
Connolly said he was “in touch with colleagues at all levels of government as we work to gather more information.”
> This morning, masked and menacing Homeland Security agents abducted one of my East Somerville constituents. Thankfully another constituent captured this video to document the presumed kidnapping. I’m in touch with colleagues at all levels of government as we work to gather more information.
>
> — Mike Connolly (@mikeconnollyma.bsky.social) 2025-09-15T19:31:46.156Z
Less was known about the the midnight abduction described by McLaughlin.
Neither Connolly nor the city was able to say with certainty how many Somerville residents have been caught up in aggressive Donald Trump administration federal deportation actions against immigrants and international visitors. Likely the first was Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk was snatched from her street March 25.
A spokesperson for Somerville said the city, once alerted to an abduction, connects remaining family members with legal help and worked to support them, but that following when residents were taken was “getting increasingly challenging.”
On Monday, city staff identified the abducted man by piecing together information from multiple community members, and “lawyers from an area nonprofit have readied a habeas corpus petition for the individual as soon as a family member accepts that support,” said Denise Taylor, a city spokesperson.
In any such instance, “city and school staff including the City’s Office of Immigrant Affairs are surging assistance to family members of detainees as they seek to find their loved ones, access legal support and pick up the pieces in the devastating wake of the loss of a parent, provider or loved one,” the spokesperson said, but “swift identification of detainees is critical in filing habeas corpus petitions to keep them in Massachusetts near loved ones and to protect their due process rights.”
News releases from a website of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency don’t report actions locally since July 18. For Cambridge, there have been no news releases or statements since May 12.
East Somerville has a strong immigrant community – three-quarters of businesses there are immigrant-owned, McLaughlin has said. He warned in February that residents of East Somerville were already being pushed into “hiding” by the federal government, and that there was “a real fear amongst both undocumented and naturalized American immigrants who are afraid of being mistaken for being undocumented.” A message was left Monday with McLaughlin for updated information.
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East Somerville, immigration, politics https://www.cambridgeday.com/2025/09/15/masked-agents-take-two-from-east-somerville-say-state-and-local-officials/
