US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials asked Boston police to hold 68 immigrants for possible deportation last year, but the city department “did not directly transfer any of the suspects to ICE custody,’’ the city’s police commissioner said in a recent memo.
William B. Evans provided the information to City Clerk Maureen Feeney in a memo dated Feb. 12 to comply with the Trust Act, a city ordinance passed in 2014 that limits city police cooperation with ICE.
The ordinance was meant to keep police out of federal immigration enforcement, so that immigrants would not see officers as a threat. It requires Evans to submit a report to city officials with statistics on the number of ICE detainers — requests to hold people who are suspected of being in the country illegally — made to the department.
In the Feb. 12 memo, Evans said that all 68 of the people — who were arrested on charges unrelated to their immigration status — were given access to a bail commissioner after their arrests, and that 18 posted bail prior to arraignment. The remaining 50 were transferred to court directly from police custody, Evans wrote, adding that Boston police have no authority to hold suspects once they’re taken to their arraignments.
“I was very glad to see that BPD denied all 68 ICE detainer requests this year,’’ said City Councilor Josh Zakim, who authored the measure in 2014. “That is exactly how the Trust Act is supposed to work. And I’m proud that the city of Boston has been a leader on this. Now it’s time for Massachusetts to enact the Safe Communities Act so that these protections will extend statewide. “
But a spokesman for ICE warned that the Trust Act endangers Boston residents.
“As in other communities that follow the same misguided approach, not honoring ICE detainers presents an unnecessary hurdle for law enforcement and poses a significant threat to public safety in the city,’’ said Tom Brophy, ICE’s acting director of field operations in the Boston office.
Last year the Globe reported that Boston police had turned over nine men to ICE in 2015 who had serious criminal histories. Those transfers were allowed by a loophole in the city ordinance.
The Trust Act specifically forbids police from detaining immigrants for ICE after a judge has ordered them released. But police said the act does not prevent them from turning over immigrants to ICE before they have made bail.
The nine men transferred to ICE in 2015 were handed over to the agency before a judge ordered them released. They included an Algerian man with a felony conviction for swinging a hammer at a South Boston bar owner; a Dominican man who returned to the United States illegally after being deported four times and is now in federal prison; and a citizen of Vietnam with assault convictions who has more recently been the scourge of Macy’s in Downtown Crossing, pilfering hundreds of dollars in watches, clothing, and hats from the store.
In 2016, ICE made 15 detainer requests to Boston police, who transferred none of them to the federal agency, records show. Three of the suspects posted bail before arraignment, and the remaining 12 were taken from police custody to their arraignments.
A Boston police spokesman said Wednesday that the department couldn’t release information about the arrest records of the 68 people ICE wanted to pick up last year, citing privacy laws.
Brophy defended the detainer requests.
“The release of criminal aliens back on Boston streets continues to pose a serious and dangerous risk to our communities,’’ Brophy said. “ICE remains committed to tracking, arresting, and removing criminal aliens in the interest of public safety and national security, despite the city’s decision to not honor detainers and jeopardize the safety of the citizens of Boston.’’
Meghan E. Irons of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.
