Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox stated the division refused to behave on all 15 civil immigration detainer requests submitted by federal authorities final 12 months, citing a metropolis legislation that shields noncitizens from deportation beneath sure circumstances.
Cox, in a letter to town clerk filed Monday with the Metropolis Council, stated the 15 requests have been “not acted upon per the Boston Trust Act,” which prohibits BPD and different metropolis departments from cooperating with the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the case of detaining immigrants on civil warrants.
“The Boston Police Department remains committed to complying with the Boston Trust Act and to building and strengthening relationships and trust with all our communities,” Cox wrote. “Boston’s immigrant communities should feel safe in reporting crime and quality of life issues to the department and in proactively engaging with all members of the Boston Police Department.”
The Belief Act, which was first enacted in 2014, enshrines town’s sanctuary standing and was reaffirmed final month by the Metropolis Council, nonetheless permits for cooperation with ICE in legal issues like human trafficking, baby exploitation, drug and weapons trafficking, and cybercrimes, in line with metropolis officers.
A variety of metropolis councilors spoke to what they noticed as an innate sense of urgency to reaffirm the Belief Act, amid President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to hold out mass deportations when he takes workplace for the second time later this month.
Mayor Michelle Wu cited the Belief Act when vowing that town would proceed to guard immigrants in “every possible way” beneath Trump’s mass deportation risk, and wouldn’t cooperate with efforts that threaten residents’ security.
Wu’s feedback have been bashed by Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan, for what he noticed as her vow to battle federal efforts to eradicate public security threats, resulting in a public squabble between the 2.
In his Dec. 31 letter, Cox doesn’t specify the character of the 15 civil immigration detainer requests, nor did the Police Division reply to the Herald’s request for particulars. An analogous inquiry despatched to ICE Boston was not instantly returned.
Cox stated no people have been detained final 12 months by BPD nor transferred to ICE custody, and no value reimbursements have been obtained from the federal authorities, per the requests. BPD has submitted an annual report back to town clerk with such particulars because the Belief Act was enacted, town web site states.
Any arrests associated to legal re-entry detected throughout unrelated Boston Police exercise are required to be included within the report as properly — situations that seemingly didn’t happen final 12 months as there was no point out of such made by the commissioner in his letter to Metropolis Clerk Alex Geourntas.
An immigration detainer is a request from ICE that asks a federal, state or native legislation enforcement company, together with jails, prisons or different confinement services, to inform the requesting company as early as potential earlier than they launch a detachable noncitizen and maintain the noncitizen for as much as an extra 48 hours.
This enables ICE time to take custody of these people in accordance with federal immigration legislation, the ICE web site states.
ICE says it lodges immigration detainers after officers or brokers set up possible trigger to consider {that a} noncitizen is detachable beneath federal immigration legislation, sometimes after a courtroom has convicted them of a number of crimes and when the noncitizen poses a public security or nationwide safety risk.
