Boston police may have missed the fax

The political divide served as the backdrop for the Boston Police Department to submit its report to the City Council this week, an annual requirement under city rules.

After ICE questioned the city’s number of ignored detainer requests, a Boston police spokesman, while acknowledging the difference in numbers, said the department only had evidence of 15 ICE detainer requests it received in 2024, all by fax, but ” acknowledges that (the Department of Homeland Security) may have other information.”

It is the second time in recent years, the two agencies have split sharply on the number of requests to Boston. And BPD believes it has already solved the problem, according to its statement.

“In January 2023, BPD asked ICE to stop sending detainer requests only by fax to precincts and to send them to a central email address,” BPD spokeswoman Marylene Burns wrote in a statement after ICE released its data. “The email address has not been used by ICE to date.”

ICE, which did not respond Friday to questions about the faxes and emails, said earlier this week that its Enforcement and Removal Unit “surrendered each of the 198 detainees after the Boston Police Department arrested individuals on criminal charges, which ICE had probable cause to believe were removed noncitizens.”

The federal department said the non-citizen suspects “were arrested for egregious criminal activity,” including attempted murder, drug trafficking, weapons charges, assault and battery on a police officer, and indecent assault and battery on a child.

The number of detainers issued and ignored is irrelevant under city and state law. A 2017 state Supreme Court ruling bars local and state governments from honoring detainer requests, which are informal messages from ICE asking a police department, court or sheriff’s office to continue detaining someone they would otherwise release. The agency houses such detainees if it suspects someone is in the country illegally and eligible for deportation.

In addition, Boston passed an ordinance known as the “Trust Act” that expressly prohibits Boston police from working on federal immigration enforcement, although the police can cooperate with ICE when criminal activity is involved. The City Council strengthened the law in 2019 and approved it in a vote last month.

Burns, the BPD spokesman, said the department can help with criminal warrants, which are different than a request for an arrest for a civil offense due to being in the country illegally.

“Because the Boston Police Department has no authority to continue to detain a person eligible for release, has no role in immigration enforcement, and cannot use departmental resources for immigration enforcement purposes, the Boston Police Department does not enforce civil immigration “, she said in her statement.

In its own statement during the exchange, ICE dismissed the rules as preventing cooperation between immigration and local authorities, saying they could admit dangerous criminals to go free

“Laws that force municipal and state officials to ignore ICE requests for assistance fail to protect law-abiding members of the community,” wrote spokeswoman Yolanda Choats. “The decision not to cooperate with ICE puts public and national security at risk by preventing ICE from being held in a safe and secure environment.”

According to the BPD, the refusal to honor a detainee does not necessarily mean that the person concerned has been released. If the defendants were routinely detained for any crimes or warrants, they would continue to be detained.

Officials in the new Trump administration see Boston and the state as prime examples of what they see as an overly lenient approach to migrants. Tom Homan, Trump’s pick for border czar, said late last year that resistance from progressive officials would not stop the new administration’s efforts to follow through on Trump’s promises of more aggressive deportations.

“If you don’t want to work with us, then get the hell out. We are going to do it. This means that instead of sending 100 people to Boston, we will send 200 agents to Boston. We will get the job done,” he said. according to FOXNews.com.

Dan Glaun and Nicky Griswold of the Globe staff contributed.

Sean Cotter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @cotterreporter.