Who Really Gets Raided on Martha’s Vineyard?

On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, ICE arrested 40 people on Martha’s Vineyard, one of the wealthiest islands in the United States. News reports described growing fear among the island’s immigrant community. But the coverage left out one critical question: Why were the immigrants taken away while the fundamental enablers remain untouched in their mansions?

That is the part no one talks about, regardless of political party. How did those immigrants end up on Martha’s Vineyard in the first place? Who gave them jobs? Who rented them housing in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country? What wages were they paid? And if some of them were allegedly involved in drug distribution, as the government claims — who bought the drugs?

ICE did not raid country clubs. They did not knock on the doors of luxury landlords or employers who depend on immigrant labor for landscaping, cleaning, construction, or care work.

Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. Both Democrats and Republicans have built an economy that depends on cheap, vulnerable labor. Undocumented workers are easy to hire and easier to threaten. They are essential and disposable.

Some naïve residents in the state may still believe that raids like that only target people with criminal records; however, as ICE revealed in the following weeks, more than 40% of the almost 1,500 arrests during a months-long operation were people without criminal records. So, who is being targeted? And who is being protected?

Despite Governor Healey’s recent denial that Massachusetts is a “sanctuary jurisdiction,” state law prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE — except in limited cases. So, what is it, then?

Let us be honest: sanctuary policies are not rooted in compassion. They exist for economic convenience, protecting the flow of cheap labor that local industries quietly depend on while giving state and city officials the political cover to appear humane.

Puerto Ricans were once the cheap and poor labor force in Massachusetts, particularly between the 1940s and 1970s. They worked the most demanding jobs for the lowest wages. When the economy shifted, the state left them behind with no path to upward mobility than staying in impoverished gateway cities in such an expensive state.

Today, immigrants are the new Puerto Ricans, only without legal status. The state continues the same model: rely on disposable labor, then look away when the system breaks the disadvantaged class that keeps it running.

If Donald Trump continues pushing his anti-immigrant agenda with the same force we’re already seeing, Massachusetts’s economy will suffer — badly. This state has quietly bet on foreign-born residents to offset population loss.

People have been leaving Massachusetts for states with lower costs and better weather, and immigrants have helped fill the resulting gap. Without them, the labor force will shrink, industries will stall, and the long-term consequences will ripple across everything from elder care to construction.

The present political climate is an ideal time for Massachusetts to confront the extremely high cost of living — and the social inequality that accompanies it. For too long, the state has chosen to mitigate the consequences through welfare crumbs rather than addressing the root causes of the problem.

That approach has kept the same wealthy interests in control of economic power while avoiding any serious conversation about fair economic opportunities. When the immigrant labor force that the state has always quietly relied on begins to disappear, no amount of feel-good policy or symbolic sanctuary status will be enough.

The question is whether Massachusetts will finally act or continue hiding behind its progressive image while the foundation crumbles beneath it.

Yes, I am an American citizen by birth, but citizenship does not erase the blood that runs through my veins. I have not forgotten my heritage or who the government criminalizes for sustaining this economy. And in this time of massive raids that punish the vulnerable and protect wealthy enablers, the only thing I'm sure of is that I will not remain silent.