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After ICE operation in Mass., Trump border czar says ‘sanctuary’ cities will keep seeing ‘collateral’ arrests
“Sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want: more agents in the community and more collateral arrests.”
Many of those arrested as part of ICE’s recent “enhanced operation” in Greater Boston were “collateral arrests,” President Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan said Tuesday.
He threatened that sanctuary cities can expect those additional detentions alongside targeted arrests going forward.
Federal agents say they arrested at least 370 people in and around Boston between March 18 and 23. Homan has boasted the operation was his follow-through on a promise to “bring hell” to Boston, targeting the city for its so-called sanctuary policies.
According to WCVB, Homan was asked Tuesday outside the White House about concerns that people without any criminal history were detained as part of the recent arrests in Massachusetts.
Homan said municipalities can decrease the number of what he called “collateral arrests” by cooperating with federal authorities, referencing the operation in Massachusetts:
“Most of them were criminals, but many of them collaterals, majority were criminals. How come the collaterals? I’ve said this a thousand times — sanctuary cities are going to get exactly what they don’t want: more agents in the community and more collateral arrests. Why? Because if we can’t get access to the bad guy in the county jail, if they’re going to choose to release him into the public, which is just, releasing a public safety threat into the public is just dumb to begin with, because it puts the public safety at risk, right? But when you release that public safety threat back into the public, that means we have to go find him. When we find him, most likely, he’s with others. And if they’re in the country illegally, they’re coming too. Because we’re not going to tell ICE to ignore the oath that [they] took to enforce immigration law and walk away from illegal aliens like the last administration does. So if you want to force us into communities, fine, we’ll go. But collateral arrests will increase because we’re going to run into illegal aliens while we’re in the course of looking for those targets.”
In a statement, ICE said 205 of those arrested as part of the operation in Massachusetts had “significant criminal convictions or charges” and the agency blamed local jurisdictions for refusing to honor detainer requests, saying it forced officers to make “at-large arrests.”
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The agency did not detail the reasoning for arresting the remaining 165 people.
Detainer requests, which ICE lodges with local police when it becomes aware a person being detained is eligible for deportation, are not mandatory for police departments to follow. In Massachusetts, a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court ruling dictated that state officials cannot detain people solely based on ICE detainer requests.
Governor Maura Healey said in a statement Tuesday that her office had not been given any documentation related to the recent arrests and said she offered to meet with Homan.
“We haven’t been provided any information,” Healey said. “He was apparently on the ground here last week but, I extended myself earlier, I said I’d be happy to meet with him, he didn’t take me up on that.”
On Monday, Healey reiterated the message that Massachusetts is not a “sanctuary state.”
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“Here are the facts. Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state, and Massachusetts law enforcement regularly partners with federal agencies and federal law enforcement to keep people safe,” Healey said. “In fact, just two weeks ago, the Massachusetts State Police were brought to the White House and recognized by President Trump and Attorney General Bondi for our partnership in arresting two dozen members of a violent gang and fentanyl trafficking ring in Lawrence.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox have repeatedly said they regularly cooperate with the federal government when it comes to the apprehension and deportation of undocumented immigrants to address issues of public safety.
The city’s “sanctuary” policies limit cooperation with federal agents attempting to detain people on civil warrants. The Boston Trust Act directs the Boston police to only coordinate with ICE on issues of significant public safety importance, such as child exploitation and human trafficking. Proponents say the ordinance increases public safety by allowing immigrants to report crimes they witness without fear of deportation.
Gladys Vega, president of La Colaborativa in Chelsea, told WCVB that the recent federal operation in the Greater Boston area targeted all immigrants, including those with updated documents and no criminal history.
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“It’s creating panic, it’s creating a situation where the fear is taking over, and people are not showing up to doctor’s appointments, they’re not showing up to school, they’re not going in huge numbers to the church,” she said.
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