In an effort to more closely monitor ICE activity at Hanscom Field, the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission (HFAC) has asked Massport to provide publicly viewable webcams to record transfer of detainees and the vehicles involved, similar to what’s already in place at King County International Airport/Boeing Field in Washington state.
The move would “make it possible for the public to understand the breadth and specifics of how ICE is using Hanscom,” according to the Aug. 14 letter sent by the HFAC to Hanscom Field Director Christopher Willenborg at Massport. The letter also asks Massport to tell state police and other security staff that it “respects the right of observers to watch and record ICE actions as long as they stay within areas that are open to the public.”
At the HFAC’s Aug. 11 meeting, according to an Aug. 13 story in the Bedford Citizen, Tom Kimball of Ground ICE said Massport and state police have been “consistently violating” the First Amendment right of observers to photograph objects in plain view from any publicly accessible property, that, unlike protests, is not subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.
Groups of area residents including the De-ICE Hanscom coalition, which includes LincolnWitness.org (see the Lincoln Squirrel, March 9, 2026), have staged protests at the entrance to the civilian air field.
“If they’re going to allow families to do plane-spotting, then they’ve got to allow concerned citizens to do ICE-spotting,” HFAC member Christopher Eliot of Lincoln said at the Aug. 11 meeting, according to the Bedford Citizen.
Private jet expansion
Hanscom Field is also the focus of attempts to block an expansion project that would significantly increase the number of private jets using the facility. Stop Private Jet Expansion has been holding standouts and organizing petitions and letters to state officials protesting the proposal.
Most recently, they have published responses by candidates running for state and federal office to questions about their positions on private jet hangar expansion and tax subsidies for private aviation. Among those who responded are three who are running to represent Lincoln in the state legislature: incumbent state Sen. Michael Barrett (Middlesex 3rd District); Ravi Simon, who is running for the seat being vacated by state Rep. Carmine Gentile; and incumbent state Rep. Alice Peisch (Norfolk 14th District).
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