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Fax machines at center of dispute between BPD and ICE
Boston Police and federal officials gave wildly different figures on how many requests were filed with the department in 2024.
At the end of last year, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox reported that his department received 15 civil immigration detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2024. But last week, an ICE spokesperson said that the agency actually lodged 198 detainer requests with the BPD.
What is the reason for this large discrepancy? The confusion stems from the methods by which ICE sends the detainer requests to the BPD, a spokesperson for the department said Monday. Specifically, the requests are sent entirely via fax machine, they said. This is despite the BPD asking for them to be sent via email as well two years ago.
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“BPD has documented a total of 15 ICE detainer requests received via facsimile in 2024, but acknowledges that DHS may have different information. In January 2023, BPD asked that ICE stop sending detainer requests solely via fax to district stations, and also send them to a central email address. To date, ICE has not used the email address,” BPD spokesperson Mariellen Burns said in a statement Monday. “BPD will continue to work with local authorities to establish a better means of communication regarding civil detainer requests to comply with annual reporting requirements.”
The mix-up comes just before President-elect Donald Trump ascends back to the White House. His winning campaign blamed a myriad of issues facing Americans on undocumented immigrants, and he vowed to oversee the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
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When ICE identifies that a “removable noncitizen” is in the custody of a local police department, the agency typically lodges a detainer request with that department. These informal requests ask that local authorities hold the person for up to an additional 48 hours and notify ICE as early as possible before the noncitizen is set to be released. These notices specifically state that detainer requests should not impact decisions about the person’s bail, parole, or release, according to BPD.
What do local laws say about immigration enforcement?
The BPD does not enforce civil immigration laws and does not ask about an individual’s immigration status. People are only taken into custody when there is probable cause that a crime has been committed or if they are the subject of a valid arrest warrant. The release or the continued detention of a person in custody can only be authorized by the bail commissioner or a court. Once a person posts bail or is transferred to a court, local departments do not have the authority to continue to detain them.
“A warrant is an order from a court that commands a law enforcement agency to take custody of an individual. Immigration Detainers do not constitute a warrant or contain information regarding criminal conduct. They are limited to information regarding a person’s status as what they refer to as a ‘removable alien,’” Burns said.
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In 2017, a state Supreme Judicial Court decision prohibited law enforcement officials in Massachusetts from making arrests based on federal civil immigration matters. There is no state law that authorizes officers to arrest or detain people based on civil immigration detainers.
The Boston Trust Act prohibits police from detaining an individual solely on a civil immigration detainer request after they are eligible for release from custody. The Trust Act was originally enacted in 2014 and amended in 2019. Last month, City Council unanimously reaffirmed its support for the ordinance in anticipation of Trump’s incoming administration.
Cox said that the 15 requests received by the BPD were not acted on, in accordance with the Trust Act. ICE said that all 198 were not acted on. All the requests were issued for people who had been arrested for engaging in “egregious criminal activity,” ICE spokesperson Yolanda Choates said in a statement last week. She blasted laws like the Trust Act, saying they decrease public safety.
“The decision not to cooperate with ICE jeopardizes public safety and national security by thwarting ICE custody in a safe and secure environment,” Choates said. “Instead, non-cooperation laws allow suspected and convicted felons, with no legal basis to remain in the United States, to integrate into our communities where ERO officers must then track them and attempt a public apprehension.”
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Mayor Michelle Wu and other defenders of the Trust Act say that it increases public safety by ensuring immigrants can engage with local law enforcement and report crimes without fear of deportation. Wu said after Trump’s victory in November that BPD will not be required or expected to participate in mass deportations of residents who have not been part of serious criminal activity. That led to a public back-and-forth with Trump’s incoming “border czar,” Tom Homan.
The Trust Act also bars local police from using department money or personnel to interrogate, detain, or arrest people for immigration enforcement purposes.
“Given that the Boston Police Department does not have authority to continue to detain an individual eligible for release, does not have a role in enforcing immigration laws and cannot use Department resources for immigration enforcement purposes, the Boston Police Department does not enforce civil immigration laws,” Burns said.
Councilor Ed Flynn sent a letter to Cox last week asking for clarification on the number of detainer requests and voicing his concern about the two widely differing numbers offered by Cox and ICE. He also urged Cox to seek a meeting with ICE officials. Flynn’s letter is on the agenda for the City Council meeting on Wednesday, and could be the basis for further discussion then.
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