Dan Atkinson Thursday, March 01, 2018

Federal officials asked Boston police to detain 68 suspected illegal immigrants last year, a 353 percent increase over 2016 that has an advocacy group seething — but the feds are blasting the city for not honoring any of the detainment requests and letting numerous “criminal aliens” out on bail.

The 68 civil detainer requests last year sent by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials marked a significant jump from 15 requests in 2016, according to BPD statistics. ICE uses detainers to ask police departments to hold people in custody for up to 48 hours while ICE investigates their immigration status. But City Hall’s Trust Act — making Boston a de facto sanctuary city — forbids BPD from participating unless ICE has a criminal warrant.

Of the 68 people ICE requested detainers for, the BPD sent 50 to court for arraignment and released 18 after they posted bail. Police have said bail commissioners decide whether someone with an ICE detainer can be released, but ICE Boston acting Director of Field Operations Thomas Brophy said the Trust Act policy makes Boston less safe.

“The release of criminal aliens back on Boston streets continues to pose a serious and dangerous risk to our communities,” Brophy said in a statement. “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.

“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,” Brophy said.

ICE officials were unable to provide details on why they issued detainers for those 68 people, and a BPD spokesman said the department could not release information about the detainees because of state criminal records law.

Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, said it was unclear if any of the 68 people posed a threat to the community and slammed the increase in detainers as federal fearmongering.

“It is deeply concerning to see such a profound increase. This is part of the federal government’s efforts to create fear and to destabilize immigrant communities,” Espinoza-Madrigal said. “The Trust Act and other sanctuary city policies in Boston are vital for public safety. They keep us all safe by making victims and witnesses of crime comfortable coming forward to report crime and to collaborate with law enforcement.”

An ICE spokesman said detainer statistics can fluctuate from year to year depending on multiple factors. Jessica Vaughan, director of policy for the Center of Immigration Studies, said the increase was “remarkable,” but showed a shift in priorities instead of pushback on Boston.

“I don’t think it means ICE is necessarily targeting Boston because of its policies, I think it reflects a change in policy from the Obama administration to the Trump administration,” Vaughan said, adding the detainers create a “paper trail” showing that ICE is making requests even though BPD is likely to shoot them down because of the Trust Act.

In a statement, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said “Boston’s diversity only makes our city stronger and I will never stop fighting for our immigrant community.”

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/loc...s_serious_risk