On a recent Saturday morning, sheriff’s deputies from Plymouth County escorted 76 men from the jail onto a bus and several vans. All were being held for the federal government, on alleged immigration violations.
Their destination: Hanscom Field, an airport in Bedford used mainly for corporate jets, charters and other private planes. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office has been making a lot of these van trips, according to interviews and records obtained by WBUR — delivering hundreds of people to federal agents at Hanscom, where they’re flown to states with larger detention centers, often far from Massachusetts.
As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests a growing number of people in this state, Hanscom has emerged as a frequent transfer point. And the Plymouth County sheriff has a hand in helping ICE as it moves detainees around the country.
Sheriff Joseph McDonald’s office has taken 545 ICE detainees to the Hanscom airport since President Trump took office, from Jan. 20 through May, according to data obtained in a public records request.