Immigrant and Customs Enforcement agents were allegedly spotted in Forest Hills recently, and one person was “pulled off the street” in Roslindale Square, according to City Councilor Benjamin Weber, who spoke at the Boston Police Department’s District E-13 community meeting recently.
Weber said while he was unsure about the Forest Hill sighting, the Roslindale incident on the morning of Feb. 5 came from “credible” sources.
Their statements align with other reports of ICE agents in the Boston area in recent weeks.
Last month, state Senator Liz Miranda, whose district includes Jamaica Plain, highlighted on her Instagram page “rumors” of impending ICE raids in Roxbury and Dorchester, with a focus on members of the Cape Verdean community.
She shared a list of “trusted organizations,” key contacts for legal aid and information to help those impacted know their rights.
“To our immigrant neighbors and families. You have rights, no matter your immigration status,’’ the post said, “You are not powerless. You are not alone.”
The Jamaica Plain Gazette reached out to Miranda’s office for comment but did not hear back by press time.
At the District E-13 meeting, Boston Police Lieutenant Warren J. Hoppie told the virtual gathering of 15 residents that the department does not receive information from federal agencies working in Boston and that information is only provided by residents calling the police.
“We want you to call if you see a violation of state law or violation of city ordinance,” Hoppie said. “If you’re in fear of your safety or something else’s safety, please call us.”
Michael Reiskind, a member of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council, also said he was informed about the Roslindale incident and that ICE agents left the resident’s car blocking the street with the keys left inside.
Reiskind said that the council has been informed of possible ICE activity in the Mildred C. Hailey Apartments in JP.
Police said they have not heard anything about ICE sightings from officers who usually circle the area to look for unhoused people.
Many neighborhoods, including Jamaica Plain, have watchers who train for spotting and alerting community members of ICE sightings through whistles and other means.
Carla-Lisa Caliga, a volunteer “watcher” who said she monitors ICE activity in her community, raised questions at the meeting about how she could otherwise help her community.
Caliga said that the watcher organization saw what appeared to be ICE vehicles in Hyde Park, Roslindale and JP.
“I’m one of the people that potentially can be arrested by ICE, and I was born in Boston, because I am not going to back down from them. I’m not going to attack them, but I am a watcher,” Caliga said, “We are getting whistles.”
Nazir Ali, the founder of Ali’s Roti, inside his Blue Hill Avenue restaurant. A native of Trinidad and Tobago. He married into a Dot family and “followed love” to his current home. Sarah Khafif photo
Ali’s Roti Restaurant has been serving Indian-Caribbean dishes in Mattapan for 35 years while Boulevard Cleaners has been providing laundry services in the neighborhood for 60 years.
Now the two businesses, each started and run by immigrants, are among 30 honored this year with Boston Legacy Business Awards that Mayor Wu announced in late May. They were presented on Tuesday evening (June 3) at a reception in partnership with The Dorchester Reporter.
In addition to plaques that they can hang in their shops, the businesses will receive technical assistance with focuses on succession planning and employee ownership as well as free legal consultation and advice for dealing with commercial leases.
ALI’s ROTI
Standing and greeting almost every customer who comes into his restaurant, Nazir Ali, the owner and founder of Ali’s Roti, has worked for more than three decades to make his dream come to life.
He migrated from Trinidad and Tobago after living there with his wife, who was born and raised in Dorchester and wanted to return home, and children for a couple of years.
“I followed love,” said Ali, who arrived in the United States with almost nothing. Back home, he had worked as a painting contractor, but when he converted his earnings to US dollars, it amounted to very little.
“I’ve never worked so hard for so little in my life,” said Ali, remembering those early days.
Initially, he planned to move to Florida and start a taxi business there, but his wife insisted on Boston. Although he had been a painting contractor for over 20 years in Trinidad and Tobago, that business thrived on networking, he said. Because he didn’t know anybody in Boston, he said, he pivoted to his second idea: a restaurant.
Ali’s Roti began with him, his wife, and his in-laws, and with his children helping on weekends and during summers while they were growing up.
Although none of his current employees are immediate family now, he says they are all “like children, brothers and sisters.” Some have been working there for more than 25 years.
The restaurant’s signature dish, roti, is an Indian-Caribbean flatbread filled with different curry fillings such as curry potato, chicken, shrimp, and vegetables. The menu also includes chicken curry, beef curry, goat curry, and steamed cabbage.
“I have a policy that I implemented: If a customer is wrong, we make them right,” he said. “If it costs us a meal, we’ll take the loss. We don’t want to lose a customer.”
City Councillor Brian Worrell says he often eats there with his colleagues, craving not only the rotis but also the restaurant’s ambience.
“It’s like a reunion, like you’re running into family, friends from school, people from work,” he said. “It’s just a special place.” From their seats in the restaurant’s red booths, diners have a direct view into the kitchen where they can watch the cooks make the rotis.
Winning a Legacy Business award feels unnatural, Ali said. “I was an award giver,” he said, not the other way around, referring to the various times the restaurant has donated awards for church, clubs and carnivals in the neighborhood.
His restaurant means everything to him, said Ali. “I do get emotional when I talk about it.”
BOULEVARD CLEANERS
Above, Peter Papadogiannis, co-owner of Boulevard Cleaners, is shown in the Blue Hill Avenue business last month. “I look at them as family,” he says of his longtime customers. Hannah Roderick photo
Brothers Peter and Dimitrios Papadogiannis are the essence of Boulevard Cleaners & Tailors, a laundry service that has served customers from all over Massachusetts since the 1960s.
“I look at them as family,” said Peter, the owner. “We love everybody here,” said Dimitrios, Peter’s right hand man.
The moment you step inside Boulevard Cleaners, your eyes fix on a wall filled with photos that tell of the family’s odyssey to Mattapan. They start with scenic landscapes of Greece, including Athens, Santorini, and Ioannina, and end with images of the Boston skyline.
The brothers’ late uncle opened Boulevard Cleaners after migrating from Greece during the political turmoil of the 1960s, seeking a better life in America. The brothers and their mother followed in 1977, and their father joined them two years later.
When they first arrived, Dimitrios, who was 19, worked at a bakery in the Fenway to help pay the bills, while Peter, then 14, attended high school. After graduation, Peter started working in the laundry business with his uncle. Dimitrios joined later – he had opened his own business, but shut it down after the 9/11 attacks.
Together, they’ve continued their uncle’s legacy, which has earned them a Legacy Business Award.
“It’s an honor,” Dimitrios said. “It’s not just for us. The award is for everybody.”
Peter said he has avoided the temptation to raise prices in difficult times because he wants to keep his customers. “I’d rather work a little harder instead of raising my prices.”
Some customers keep bringing their laundry to Boulevard even after moving out of town, the brothers said. Customers come from as far as Brockton, Framingham, and Martha’s Vineyard, they said.
The brothers’ fun-filled ways and easygoing personalities have helped build long-lasting relationships with customers. “We joke all the time,” Peter said.
That’s especially true on April Fool’s Day, when they have made a habit of pulling pranks on customers. This year, they said, a customer pulled up early in the morning and parked next to the curb. He stepped in to pick up his clothes and was faced with worrisome looks.
“Did you notice you have a flat tire on the rear?” Peter recalled telling him. The customer turned around to check out his car and was greeted by laughter from behind the counter.
Part of the at-large panel (l-r): Erin Murphy, Henry Santana, Ruthzee Louijeune, Marvin Mathelier and Alexandra Valdez at a Hibernian Hall forum on May 22, 2025. Photo by Georgia Epiphaniou
Seventeen candidates for City Council seats fielded questions about affordable housing, immigration enforcement, and other topics last Thursday evening (May 22) at a forum at Roxbury’s Hibernian Hall.
Nine candidates for the District 7 seat and eight for the four at-large seats participated in the nearly three-hour forum, which drew more than 100 people and was moderated by Yawu Miller, editor in chief of The Flipside, and WGBH reporter Saraya Wintersmith.
The at-large field All four incumbent at-large councillors running for re-election attended the event: Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Henry Santana, and Erin Murphy. City election officials have also certified nomination signatures for five challengers, so far: Will Onuoha, Marvin Mathelier, Alexandra Valdez, Yves Mary Jean, and Frank Baker. All but Mary Jean were in attendance.
Baker previously served as the District 3 councillor for 12 years. Valdez is the director of Boston’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and Onuoha worked as the executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Fair Housing & Equity, among other posts in over two decades in city government.
Marvin Mathelier, a Marine Corps Reserve veteran, said his goal is to bring to the City Council the values instilled in him by military service.
At-Large City Council panel: (from l to r) Will Onouha, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy, Henry Santana, Ruthzee Louijeune, Marvin Mathelier, Alexandra Valdez and Frank Baker. Photo by Wen Qi
Asked how they would make Boston more affordable, Mathelier, Valdez, Santana, and Louijeune give similar answers about supporting rent control, community involvement, budgeting, zoning, mixed-income social housing, and reusing old buildings.
Onuoha introduced a new idea on workforce housing, targeted to families that earn too much to qualify for affordable housing but can’t afford market rate housing. He says no one should pay over 30 percent of their income for housing.
“Affordable housing is not affordable,” he said. “That’s a myth that we tell people.”
Mejia said she supports a displacement tax, a fee that she says would mitigate the loss of residents and businesses due to rising property values, typically caused by gentrification.
“I’ve been questioning this whole idea, because we’re getting displaced in high numbers” she said.
Murphy talked about education and workforce development.
The candidates gave varying answers about how they would support communities targeted by ICE. Baker and Onuoha recommend that immigrants stay off social media. “Do not say anything bad about the government,” Onuoha said.
Baker thinks Boston police should have a relationship with ICE to create transparency. “There should be some sort of liaison with ICE to see where they’re going, what they’re doing,” he said.
At-Large City Council panel included (from left to right): Marvin Mathelier, Alexandra Valdez and Frank Baker. Photo by Wen Qi
Most of the candidates said the city should do more to educate immigrants about their rights. Mejia, who was born in the Dominican Republic, said she survived Trump’s first term and can do it again.
“I’m prepared to stand up to Trump,” she said, while reinforcing the need to educate immigrants about their rights. There was some support among the candidates for bike and bus lanes.
“I don’t want to walk by no more ghost bikes,” Louijeune said. “I don’t want that. I don’t want that for our children, to say that someone died here because we didn’t do our job to build a safer, better city.”
Baker said the city should explore expanding water transportation and Valdez and Mejia emphasized that each neighborhood needs its own plan for bike and bus lanes so it makes sense to businesses and residents. “People can’t do one size fits all,” Mejia said.
Murphy blamed increased traffic congestion on bike lanes and speed bumps. “I think it’s important that we don’t just wake up one day and find out that our streets look different and we didn’t have to say anything,” she said.
In a “speed round,” everyone except Onuoha, Baker, and Murphy said they support statewide rent control legislation. Everyone except Baker said “yes” when asked whether they support inclusionary zoning requiring 20 percent of housing in market-rate developments to be income restricted.
Onuoha, Valdez, and Baker went on record opposing an elected school committee and against abolishing the Boston police gang database. Everyone else voted yes on those questions.
There was unanimous support for approving a $4 million increase in the city’s rent subsidy program to provide permanent housing for 130 homeless families.
Baker was the only candidate who didn’t answer a question about whether universities should increase their payments in lieu of taxes, known as PILOT funds. Baker held his paddle sideways, refraining to answer and drawing an eruption of laughter from the crowd.
District 7
District 7 City Council panel: (from l to r) Wawa Bell, Samuel Hurtado, Said Abdikarim, Said Ahmed, Mavrick Afonso, Miniard Culpepper, Roy Owens, Natalie Juba Sutherland and Jerome King. Photo by Georgia Epiphaniou
The first part of the forum focused on the District 7 seat now held by Tania Fernandes Anderson, who recently pleaded guilty to two of six federal corruption charges after allegedly arranging a kickback scheme that netted her $7,000. Fernandes Anderson, who has said she intends to resign from the seat before her term expires at the end of the year, is not running for re-election.
Nine candidates have qualified for the ballot for the preliminary election to be held on Sept. 9, with early voting starting on Aug. 30: WaWa Bell, Samuel Hurtado, Said Abdikarim, Said Ahmed, Mavrick Afonso, Rev. Miniard Culpepper, Roy Owens, Natalie Juba-Sutherland, and Jerome King.
The candidates began by explaining what makes them qualified for the job.
“I think that our community has been ill-represented for a long time,” said Bell, who went on to say he wants to continue the “positive work” of Fernandes Anderson, who was in attendance at the event.
Miller asked the candidates how they would work to make District 7 more affordable. Bell expressed support for rent control and a cap on how much landlords can earn.
The candidates all agreed to advocate for the statewide “Homes for All Massachusetts” rent control legislation that would limit rent increases and ban no-fault evictions. The response came during rapid-fire questions for which candidates had to respond with a paddle with “yes” on one side and “no” on the other.
Bell and Culpepper emphasized a push for more homeownership, while Juba-Sutherland mentioned a need for more financial literacy among homeowners.
“What financial literacy does [is] it teaches us how to manage our money,” Juba-Sutherland said. “Because we can actually say, ‘Yes, we can own our homes,’ but can we keep our homes?”
Afonso, who is the director of external affairs at the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, called for the development of “surplus land” and accessory dwelling units for affordable housing.
Candidates answered questions about how they would support communities targeted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. King called himself a “fighter” and questioned who ICE agents are.
“All I see is a bunch of people running around with shiesties on,” King said. “They don’t show their face.”
Nearly all candidates expressed some form of support for community members targeted by ICE, except Owens, who did not answer the question and went on to talk about congestion pricing.
Both Hurtado and Abdikarim emphasized educating immigrants about their constitutional rights. Afonso said he supports more funding for legal resources for immigrants.
From left: Said Ahmed, Mavrick Afonso (standing), Miniard Culpepper: and Roy Owens. Photo by Wen Qi
“This is a sanctuary state,” Afonso said, ”so let’s provide these people the counsel that they need if ICE comes to try to take them away.”
During rapid-fire questioning, all candidates backed Boston’s inclusionary zoning policy requiring 20 percent of units in market-rate developments to be income restricted and indicated support for amendments that would increase participatory budgeting funds.
Bell, Hurtado, Owens, Juba-Sutherland, and King said they oppose the Wu administration’s decision to lease White Stadium to a professional women’s soccer team. Abdikarim, Ahmed, Afonso and Culpepper all said they support the plan.
All except for Juba-Sutherland and Owens voted to abolish the Boston Police Department’s gang database. Juba-Sutherland voted “no,” and Owens abstained from the question.
Hurtado was the only one of the nine candidates to vote against a fully elected school committee.
A strong turnout at the Boston City Council Forum, Hibernian Hall, Thursday, May 22, 2025. Photo by Georgia Epiphaniou
