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‘Deeply troubling’: ICE is undermining public safety, Suffolk DA says
District Attorney Kevin Hayden insisted his office did not know ICE agents would detain a man mid-trial, calling the move "unacceptable and unprofessional."
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden sharply criticized ICE Wednesday, saying that the federal immigration enforcement agency is undermining public safety in and around Boston. Hayden convened a press conference to denounce the recent actions of ICE agents after they detained a man facing criminal charges mid-trial.
Hayden called that specific incident “unacceptable and unprofessional” on its own. But he also spoke about the way that ICE actions in general are undermining his office’s ability to improve public safety and hold criminal offenders accountable.
“ICE routinely claims that their actions are improving public safety in Boston. And I’m here today to tell you, and to say, that they are doing the exact opposite,” Hayden said.
A recent flashpoint
The recent tension between Hayden’s office and ICE is tied to the case of Wilson Martell-Lebron, who was facing two felony charges from 2020 for allegedly filing a false application for a driver’s license. His trial began last Thursday, and he was present in court that day.
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But Martell-Lebron was detained by ICE agents Thursday afternoon. His defense attorneys shared video of the arrest with multiple news organizations.
ICE contends that Martell-Lebron is actually a man from the Dominican Republic named Juan Carlos Baez who entered the U.S. illegally in 2000. ICE officials confirmed that agents detained him outside Boston Municipal Court, saying that he is “illegally present” in the country and has “prior drug trafficking convictions.”
Court records show that Martell-Lebron was found guilty of two counts of trafficking cocaine and one count of trafficking heroin in Middlesex Superior Court in 2009. He served prison time and was released in 2020.
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Judge Mark Summerville held ICE agent Brian Sullivan in contempt Monday for allegedly obstructing justice.
Murat Erkan, Martell-Lebron’s defense attorney, alleged that Suffolk prosecutors knew of ICE’s intentions. Assistant district attorneys from Hayden’s office said in court that they were aware of ICE’s general interest in Martell-Lebron but believed that he would be apprehended after the trial was completed.
Hayden said that his office did not know of ICE’s intention to arrest Martell-Lebron mid-trial and that it did everything possible to try to have him returned to court to stand trial, including making numerous requests directly to ICE and asking that the judge issue an order to compel ICE to return him to court.
But these attempts were unsuccessful, and Summerville permanently dismissed the case against Martell-Lebron due to prosecutorial misconduct.
ICE spokespeople did not return a request for comment Wednesday.
Hayden insisted that all the prosecutors in this case acted ethically and appropriately. There is no credible evidence that prosecutors knew ICE was going to remove Martell-Lebron in the middle of trial, he said.
“All of our actions in this case clearly demonstrated our intent to hold Mr. Martell-Lebron accountable. None of our actions demonstrated any collusion with ICE to deprive him of his right to a trial. Any claim that we collaborated with ICE in their actions to remove the defendant from the trial are wholly unsupported by any credible evidence,” Hayden said.
‘Chilling effect’
Speaking more broadly, Hayden argued that ICE operations around Suffolk County are getting in the way of his office’s ability to pursue justice.
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Hayden spoke about Boston being the “safest major city in America,” citing recent historic lows in homicides, shootings, and other serious crimes. This, he said, is the result of direct cooperation and trust with residents. But ICE operations over the last few months are putting that safety in jeopardy, Hayden added.
He spoke about witnesses that are reluctant to cooperate with investigators and victims who are refusing to provide information about crimes against them “due to fear of ICE.” This is having a “chilling effect” on vulnerable populations and is detrimental to public safety, he said.
“ICE’s recent actions are deeply troubling. We will not stand silent while ICE removes defendants in the middle of a trial. We will not stand silent when the fear of ICE stops victims and witnesses from coming forward. We will not stand silent while ICE operations jeopardize the public safety gains we and our partners have worked so long and so hard to achieve,” Hayden said.
He raised concerns about the future, describing the possibility that a rape victim or a key witness in a homicide trial could be afraid to report what they know to authorities.
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Hayden said that his office is in continued contact with ICE and that he is “cautiously optimistic” that something can be done to improve the situation.
But the incident involving Martell-Lebron is unprecedented and could be indicative of larger problems with how ICE is operating under the current Trump administration, Hayden said.
“Interference of this nature, I’m not sure it has ever happened before. And it can’t happen again. We simply can’t have ICE trampling on our criminal legal system,” he said. “That’s a problem. That’s a problem for public safety, that’s a problem for our ability to hold offenders accountable.”
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