Tangled Up in ICE
The city's pension fund is vested in the forced removal machine
Are you ready for some freakin football? This’ll be the first full game I watch this season. Excited for the cognitive dissonance it’s bound to engender as the military parade aspect goes on as planned while the viewer at home is under the assumption the game is a respite “from politics.” We got a buffalo dip on, though.
Jonathan Ross hasn’t been charged with murder yet, and far as I’m concerned, that’s the one and only thing the Democrats can do to show they’re serious. (That and abolish ICE, but we all know that won’t happen.) Looking at you, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Even if the game is rigged and ICE agents really do have the “absolute immunity” they’re purported to have, you still have to file the charges. Just to show people the game is rigged, that you care it’s rigged and want it unrigged. Open question! (For a good summary of the ummmm complications facing state prosecutors in Minnesota, the Marshall Project has a very good breakdown.)
Today’s post is about how the city of Worcester’s pension fund basically has $15 million invested in ICE and they’ve so far declined to change that. But patience, patience... first, some things I want people skimming or about to close this email to see.
If you hate what’s going on to the point it’s suffocating, there is One Weird Trick to ameliorate that: get involved. I like the way Brian Merchant put it the other day in a post on his fantastic newsletter Blood in the Machine.
I’m going to be a little careful about details here, because this kind of community organizing is what Trump’s justice department is now equating with domestic terrorism, as it has accused the late Renee Good of perpetrating. It is of course nothing of the sort: It’s a neighbor-led effort to prevent families from being torn apart. Rapid response and community defense organizations find out and keep track of who has been targeted or abducted by ICE, and where. They inform the families, who often have no idea if their husband or wife or son or daughter has been taken. They try to alert workers and communities when ICE is in the area and keep businesses and individuals informed about how to prevent abductions as safely and legally as possible.
Worcester has just such an organization! Multiple, actually, and one is holding just the event for your disaffected, suffocating ass tomorrow.
Here’s the form to sign up.
Then on Tuesday, PSL Worcester is holding a rally outside City Hall.
See you at both!
And one last thing before we get into it: I do rely 100 percent on reader contributions to continue publishing this outlet, paying my roster of writers, living in such a way that I have time to do all this... Subscriptions are best, but one-time contributions via the tip jar and merch orders are also great.
Still have every size of the Outdoor Cats shirt! The rest are slim pickings for now.
Tangled Up In ICE
The city invests at least $15 million in a Black Rock-backed hedge fund that plays a key role in “ICE Air,” the network of charter plane companies that carry out the majority of forced removal flights.
The city’s retirement fund invests in Global Investment Partners’ “Fund IV,” a $22 billion stock portfolio that claims to focus on renewable energy. Among its shareholders are more than a dozen large public pension funds, including Worcester’s. Despite its stated goals, an airline logistics company called Signature Aviation accounts for some 13 percent of its holdings. Signature Aviation actively assists ICE with deportation flights. It provides fueling, ground crews, and other hangar and airport services, making it an integral cog in a vast machine of private aviation companies that form “ICE Air.” The city’s ability to offer new pensions and pay the pensions it’s already committed to is partially contingent on the success of ICE’s increasingly overt white nationalist project. The money that municipal employees put into their retirement from every paycheck goes toward that project. None of them had a say in it, of course, and until I published this, none of them had any way of knowing.
Internal emails, being made public here for the first time, show the city has been unwilling to renegotiate the relationship, even as evidence of the collaboration has become more apparent, and pressure campaigns have proliferated elsewhere across the country, from Seattle to, most recently, Quincy, Mass., kid.
The assurances made by the city manager and the mayor both before and after Eureka Street have found another wiggly caveat! The police don’t assist ICE, they said... unless you try to stop ICE from unlawfully kidnapping someone. The city doesn’t cooperate with ICE, they said... unless there’s a good return on investment.
“There would be a large financial loss to withdraw from the fund, which itself would be difficult for the system to do.” So ends the minutes of a June 12 meeting of the Worcester Retirement System’s financial board. The statement caps a terse paragraph relaying a summary of the Signature Aviation situation provided by Steven MacLellan, a principal and consultant at Meketa Investment Group, the retirement system’s contracted investment manager. Willfully or otherwise, MacLellan apparently downplayed the relationship between the company and the Brown Vest arm of the Hamburger Reich. “They simply operate terminals and offer types of maintenance to airlines,” reads one line. “Signature Aviation does not find out who is on what plane. They are legally obligated to provide service to their clients. Signature Aviation does not have a contract with ICE, it’s just ICE may have been on a couple planes they have serviced.” Had the members of the retirement board investigated further, they would’ve had an easy time finding out MacLellan’s summary wasn’t quite accurate. As we’ll get to, it’s simply the regurgitation of an increasingly flimsy lie.
In May, during the budget approval process, Councilor Etel Haxhiaj asked for information from the auditor about Worcester’s investments in Global Investment Partners. That’s what set off the conversation at the June meeting.
And yet, the months went on, and Haxhiaj’s order went unanswered. The minutes quoted earlier were never publicly posted. The “minutes” link on the city’s agenda management system for the June 12 meeting takes you to a stock agenda, on which Signature Aviation is not listed at all. While technically a public record, what you’re reading here is the first time these minutes have been made public.
Emails show Stearns bracing for a grilling on the council floor. They show he got the information Haxhiaj asked for. But the manager, who controls the drip of information that makes its way onto council agendas via the reports in “manager’s agendas,” never filed an answer to Haxhiaj’s question. Par for the course in Worcester. Most orders go unanswered, especially requests for reports, and most councilors have backslid into a habit of asking for reports they know will never come as a set piece in the political theater of the moment. Etel’s request was different: Pertinent information, otherwise difficult to find, about an issue of extreme concern to the public. Nevertheless, it went unanswered like all the rest of them.
Now that Haxhiaj has been replaced by a man who visibly struggles to form sentences—having been put there by police union officials who waged an informal anti-Etel election campaign in District 5, going door-to-door with the ample time and money afforded to them by a city government afraid to find out what happens if they say no—who don’t even want to know what these police union officials do all day... plausible deniability and all that... shhh shhh just don’t tell me... see you when the contract’s up for renewal... And so these police union officials did so openly, in uniform, all day every day for months, and would you look at that Rivera found almost 1,000 new voters in a 5,000-vote election—it’s even less likely we’ll see a report from the auditor on the subject of our funding a key ICE collaborator with our pension fund... that vanishingly rare relic of another era, unique these days to the public sector and antithetical to the logic of neoliberalism, swirling as it is with exponential speed around the gilded drain... a fund which is itself under assault by the wider underlying project that puts the Hamburger Hardos out in the street to see who they can get away with shooting next. So it goes under the dome.
Elsewhere—outside the dome—public awareness and pressure campaigns have gained momentum.
Huffpost, on September 8, ran a big exposé style exploration of Bill Gates’ ties to ICE, via Signature Aviation.
Gates’ connection to the U.S. detention and deportation machine is a company called Signature Aviation. Signature calls itself “the world’s largest network of private aviation terminals,” and it’s a linchpin in the day-to-day machinery of Trump’s immigration enforcement apparatus.a
On October 14, the Associated Press published “ICE’s use of full-body restraints during deportations raises concerns over inhumane treatment.” This is a follow of sorts on a landmark investigation Propublica put up in April: “Inside ICE Air: Flight Attendants on Deportation Planes Say Disaster Is “Only a Matter of Time”
Organizers around the country, starting it seems in Seattle, have focused efforts on divestment campaigns, trying to leverage public pressure on the private companies that make ICE Air hum. Signature Aviation has become a focus.
On October 27, “Connecticut Treasurer’s Office Schedules Meeting To Discuss Portfolio Firm’s Connection With ICE Flights.”
In November, Human Rights First put out its monthly ICE flight monitor report, showing a surge in domestic “shuffle” flights carried out by ICE Air.
The report attributes the rise to ICE Air Operations’ “expansion of subcontracted charter planes, which supports a greater number of daily flight routes.” And those charter planes rely on the support services provided by Signature Aviation. Without it, the planes wouldn’t be able to fly.
These findings make clear that the Trump administration’s current deportation campaign is unprecedented and dangerous—not only to the rights of those it targets, but also to our democracy.
Meanwhile, industry press has reported on Signature Aviation’s push to “revolutionize the private aviation experience” by launching expansion projects in Central America, Liberia, and Orlando, Florida. Hm. What do those three locations have in common? All along the common routes of Ice Air.
Just yesterday, it was announced that Signature entered into an “exclusive partnership” with the leading aviation services provider in Costa Rica. In a news release, Signature CEO Derek DeCross said “Expanding our presence in Costa Rica is a natural extension of Signature’s mission to elevate every moment of the guest journey.”
It all reads like a smart bit of world-building in Andor if you ask me.
A few days ago, on January 15, the Quincy Ledger’s Peter Blandino wrote “How Quincy finances, profits off ICE deportation flights at Hanscom.” The situation is much the same as Worcester’s: its retirement board bought into the Global Infrastructure Partners fund in 2019 on the advice of Meketa, their investment manager. Now the bureaucratic apparatus of the fund is providing washy answers about requesting more information.
Reached by phone for comment, Quincy Retirement System director Brad Croall said he would contact the retirement board’s investment consultant Meketa for more information. Meketa did not respond to The Patriot Ledger’s questions.
Quincy Retirement Board chair Susan O’Connor did not respond to phone and email messages requesting comment.
Ground ICE, an advocacy group trying to interrupt ICE’s unlawful practices by way of the private companies it contracts, has paid particular attention to Hanscom Field, a former Air Force base in Bedford that has recently become the main connector for forced removal flights out of New England. From January to November, 114 ICE flights have left Hanscom, where Signature Aviation provides its services. Protests from residents of nearby towns has caught the attention of Governor Maura Healey, who loudly condemned the practice last month, in a letter to federal officials.
On the city level, however, hardly a peep. No—here, under the dome, it’s been damn near radio silence.
In late December, as one of her last acts in office, Haxhiaj sent the auditor a two-page letter on the matter, imploring the city to divest from the fund. It’s backed by 23 pages of primary source documents that show knowing collaboration between Signature Aviation and ICE.
According to emails obtained through FOIA requests, ICE does provide flight information to Signature Aviation, despite the company’s claims to the contrary. Signature Aviation continues to refuel ICE planes used for deportations out of Hanscom Field in Bedford with full knowledge of the operations they are supporting. While they may not be responsible for the deportation decisions, they are providing the logistical support ICE needs to continue its unlawful activities.
In one of the attached emails, dated January 14, 2025, an employee of Signature Aviation named Jade Smolik reached out to a manager of the King County International Airport outside Seattle. The exchange went this way:
Signature Aviation: We just received confirmation that the ICE mission will not be today but will instead be tomorrow 1/15/25. Is there any way we can get gate space for this flight. Our usual gate 22 would be preferred but if that is booked any open gate will do. Please get back to me at your earliest convenience.
Airport: Just following up on from our phone conversation. We will have gate 22 open for you tomorrow from 9-11 for the rescheduled ICE flight.
Hard, when something like that exists, to deny any knowing collaboration with ICE. Yet that’s exactly what the hedge fund that owns Signature has done. They did so directly to the Worcester Retirement System, via its financial manager.
We got our grubby little hands on a June email conversation between City Auditor Bob Stearns and Stepehen MacLellan of Meketa Investment Group, Worcester’s investment manager. It goes like this.
Stearns, on June 12: You did mention Signature is not under contract with ICE and they are required to follow federal regulations when providing services such as fueling, parking and/or minor maintenance and not turn away services from anybody.
I am wondering if GIP could put together a brief memo on their letterhead that states this and addresses these inquiries that I could reference and attach to the response as well as the percentage of their investment indirectly owned by the City.
MacLellan said he’d reach out to GIP for a response. A few weeks later he got one.
MacLellan, on June 25: I received the attached from them – I’m not sure what the intended use is or the requirements so give it a read for whether it’s adequate.
Here’s the attachment.
Gotta love the kicker: “Global Infrastructure Partners (Blackrock).” In terms of corrosive net negative impact on humanity, Blackrock has a hell of a lot more to answer to than ICE collaboration. A conversation for another time. For now, it should be noted the legalese of “has no direct contracts with [ICE]” looks, on a quick read, sort of like “does not collaborate with ICE.” But it’s not. They very much do collaborate with ICE, and the first paragraph is a tacit admission of that.
In Etel’s letter, she writes:
The City of Worcester has committed to not cooperating with or providing support to ICE. I understand the Worcester Retirement Board did not know about all this when it originally invested in Signature Aviation through GIP IV; however, now that this information is available, the Board has an ethical and moral obligation to divest from companies that support ICE-related deportation activities.
Stearns responded a few days later, saying he will review the letter. He said the board discussed the issue in June.
Thank you. I will review the letter and links. The Board discussed this with its investment advisor in June after they reached out to GIP for a formal response.
What he didn’t say is that they downplayed it and took no action.
“The order from the budget hearing was directed to the City Manager who I was told was responding to press inquiries at the time.”
Someone else can go through the humiliation ritual of getting a canned comment from the manager’s press team on this order from last May he clearly has no intentions of acting on.
The city’s retirement fund is more than a billion dollars in total. In an email to MacLellan, the financial advisor, the city auditor, Stearns wrote
(GIP IV is 1.1% of the System). And percentage Signature equates to total system (The Signature stake is ~0.13% of the System).
It’s hard to imagine they’d have much difficulty putting the $15 million elsewhere. It is pennies on a 1.3 billion dollar bill. It’s similarly hard to swallow the financial costs would be too great. Global Infrastructure Partners is not the only hedge fund in the world promising 10 percent returns. There are plenty. But the emails show that both the financial advisor and the auditor view a sell-off of those shares to be prohibitive. In one, MacLellan wrote “we would need to sell our stake to another investor, very likely at a loss. It could also hamper our ability to make new investments with GIP (which maybe that’s not desirable to some but it’s been a strong performer over the years and this seems fairly isolated).”
It’s worth noting here that despite the minuscule percentage of the overall investment, employees at Global Investment Partners get handsome payouts from the city as investment managers. There are two line items in the “fees and commissions” section of the latest retirement board financial report totalling about $418,000 for GIP. The payout is among the highest individual payouts in a list of dozens of managers, totalling some $7 million. For perspective, MacLellan’s Meketa Investment Group gets $212.856. The retirement board operated on his testimony alone back in June when the issue was first and last discussed. They decided, on his advice, to stay in business with Global Infrastructure Partners. If I was one of the guys at Global Infrastructure Partners banking on that $418,000 check coming in from the City of Worcester I’d know where to send the gift basket.
OPERATION RED CARD
In other ICE news we learned recently, thanks to stellar reporting from Ken Klippenstein, that the May 8 date of Eureka Street was during not one but two overlapping TOP SECRET ICE Operations with goofy names: OPERATION PATRIOT and SOG OPERATION RED CARD.
The former was described as a “surge operation” targeting “illegal criminal aliens” and yielded 73 “apprehensions.” It couldn’t be more obvious they’re shooting to satisfy a quota. And you may remember “illegal criminal alien” is exactly what the Boston ICE office called Rosane Oliveira De Ferreira in their statement after the kidnapping. They did not retract the claim after the flimsy charge against her was dropped, nor after her asylum claim was granted. Almost like they don’t care whether they’re grabbing “criminals” at all.
The same exact analysis could be applied to the latter campaign, which deployed “personnel with advanced skillsets” to go after immigrants charged with criminal actions. If by advanced skillsets they mean shoving women in the style of pass rushing defensive end or dropping their pepper spray on the ground out of the nifty little center pocket of their brand new tactical vest and clumsily picking it up while adjusting their little balaclava or calling the cops because they’re scared of a few residents asking questions, then yes, sure, these were the advanced skillset guys.
Regardless, the full list of operations shows not so much a tactical approach but an intensely political one—essentially going on a national tour of all the places that aren’t friendly to Trump to put on a show for him. The Worcester PoLice Department, given one chance to come up from understudy and join the production, performed wonderfully when they tackled a distraught teenager and held her to the ground with their knees as she wept and cried for her mother who’d just been disappeared in an unmarked van to an unknown location. Even better when they pressed charges against her. More points still when they called the people objecting to this senseless street violence an unruly mob—the chaos agent responsible for all the fuss. In this way Eric Batista and Joe Petty and all the police’s top brass did the same exact thing that Kristi Noem did after Jonathan Ross murdered Renee Good in Minnesota. They just weren’t wearing a cowboy hat and—this being a bastion of Good Democrats—did not throw around the word “terrorist.” (They did, however, quickly implement terrorism-style security measures at city hall, complete with its own little cadre of Municipal TSA.)
Several posts on Reddit suggest that ICE may be staging another “operation” in Massachusetts, but no hard information as of now.
Remember: all we have is each other, and a great reminder of the power of that can be found in people from Minneapolis beating the shit out of neo nazi provocateur Jake Lang and riding him out of town on a rail in the style of that scene from O Brother Where Art Thou.
Anyway... on Tuesday we got to see civility returned to the council chambers. All is well.
Before we move over to that subject please consider supporting this outlet! I get to write with clear eyes and a conscience because there are no market forces interfering with that. So long as readers see the value in having such a voice, to counteract all the heavily beholden-to-market-forces coverage on display at the Telegram, me and the Worcester Sucks team will keep providing it. All we ask is a small amount of direct reader support… in an ideal world from each and every one of you!
City Council Update
The Worcester city council has returned to its natural form: a reality tv show for the senior center. Or at least that’s the best I’ve come up with for this bizarre, insular and most importantly useless body. Late into the five-hour grievance airing session on Tuesday night Khrystian King came up with what was perhaps a better turn of phrase: Welcome to Death Row, folks.
He meant it to say the meetings run long but there’s another way to take it: that the chamber is where good policy goes to die. Good social movements, good morality, good civic engagement. Time and again the council has shown its one true function is to disabuse the public of its right to a say in things. The election was the grand finale of a several-year buckbreaking campaign and now, having fulfilled their core function, they have their reward, and those of us who bothered watching on Tuesday got to see it: complaining incoherently about petty things. They were having a blast.
Really it’s in our best interest to treat the council as an avenue of last resort for public pressure, not the beginning and end of it. There’s a big old proverbial graveyard I could point to, where I and a good amount of my readers have a few tombstones.
You almost have to feel bad for George Russell. Here we have the council of his dreams and he’s permanently benched himself. Relatedly, spent a bit too long the other day finding the clip of that time he complained about the DPW not taking away his watermelons...
There was some interesting back and forth on the Alert Worcester system that suddenly went down in November and has not been brought back up.
The TIF for Mentiki was held for a week by Khrystian King, over concerns about violations to the TIF policy. But the majority of the council signalled their support. It will pass. In doing so, some of the councilors betrayed how very little they know about how development works.
Neither of those two things are very interesting or worth getting into right now. I’m trying to not write 6,000 words every post for sanity purposes.
There’s another meeting on Tuesday. Here’s the agenda.
This order from Satya Mitra especially illustrates the failure of imagination at play here. Look at the goals he thinks up. God damn.
“Improving public safety outcomes,” lol. No ideas besides Give Cops Money.
This is the No Ideas Council.
Odds and ends
Thanks for reading!
Good story about sprinklers in The Shoestring after two large western Mass fires. Worst thing Kate Toomey ever did. Never forget the naked and craven political bludgeoning she carried out on the police union’s behalf.
For another time but the proposed skyscraper project on Pleasant Street is all sorts of interesting.
Copaganda time: Who is Sheruff Barkley? Meet the Worcester Police Department’s newest officer.” Thank u Telegram.
Lastlty this piece by John Lanchester in the London Review Of Books about the AI bubble is the best thing I’ve read in quite some time.
I haven’t been able to say so yet so rest in peace Bobby. In this show he’s absolutely cooking. Especially set two. Look at this run of Bobby magic in set two setlist…
El Paso
He's Gone ...
The Other One ...
Me And Bobby McGee ...
The Other One ...
Wharf Rat