Boston authorities rejected all 15 immigration detainer requests ICE made in 2024, new report says

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Boston authorities confirmed they rejected all 15 immigration detainer requests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the city last year, according to a new report.

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox filed a letter to the city council, revealing that the city’s police department did nothing with all of ICE’s detainer requests for the last year, according to the Boston Herald.

Cox cited the Boston Trust Act in rejecting the requests, a rule that protects the city’s sanctuary status and prohibits city departments from working with ICE to detain illegal immigrants on civil warrants. 

“The Boston Police Department remains committed to complying with the Boston Trust Act and to building and strengthening relationships and trust with all our communities,” Cox wrote, adding, “Boston’s immigrant communities should feel safe in reporting crime and quality of life issues to the department and in proactively engaging with all members of the Boston Police Department.”

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Boston authorities revealed they rejected all of ICE’s immigrant detainer requests for the city in 2024. ((Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images))

His letter confirmed that “no individuals were detained last year by BPD nor transferred to ICE custody, and no cost reimbursements were received from the federal government, per the requests.”

ICE’s Immigration detainer requests ask local, state or federal law enforcement groups to notify the immigration enforcement agency before they release an immigrant from custody that can be removed from the country.

As The Boston Herald noted, these requests ask that authorities keep the illegal immigrant in custody for up to an additional 48 hours, allowing time for ICE to take them into its own custody. 

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Boston authorities have indicated multiple times that they will refuse to cooperate with the Trump administration’s future immigration enforcement policies.  ((Photo by John Moore/Getty Images))

ICE maintains it files detainer requests once probable cause is established that a migrant can be removed from the country. This happens “typically after a court has convicted them of one or more crimes and when the noncitizen poses a public safety or national security threat,” the outlet stated.

The police commissioner’s letter reflects city authorities’ ongoing opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to carry out mass deportation operations throughout the country during his second term. 

Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told outlet WCVB in November that her city won’t cooperate with Trump’s plans. 

“Elections have consequences, and the federal government is responsible for a certain set of actions, and cities, no individual city, can reverse or override some parts of that,” she said. “But what we can do is make sure that we are doing our part to protect our residents in every possible way, that we are not cooperating with those efforts that actually threaten the safety of everyone by causing widespread fear and having large-scale economic impact.”

Incoming Border Czar Tom Homan blasted Wu’s rejection of Trump’s border security agenda in November, stating in a recent interview, “Well, she’s not very smart, I’ll give her that. President Trump is going to prioritize public safety threats. What mayor or governor doesn’t want public safety threats out of their communities? I mean that’s your number one responsibility is to protect your communities, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

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Gov. Maura Healey, D-Mass., has also expressed opposition to Trump’s upcoming immigration agenda. Shortly after the election, she said she was prepared to use “every tool in the toolbox” to protect Massachusetts citizens and residents, and she vowed that state police would “absolutely not” assist Trump in the operation.

Despite this opposition to the future federal immigration policy, Healey publicly expressed outrage after a migrant was allegedly caught with nearly $1 million worth of drugs and an AR-15 rifle at a hotel this week that is being temporarily used as a state shelter. 

“It’s outrageous that this individual took advantage of our shelter system to engage in criminal activity,” she said in a recent statement, adding, “This further underscores our broken federal immigration system and the urgent need for Congress and the White House to act on a border security bill to prevent criminals from entering our communities.” 

“The people of Massachusetts should not continue to have to deal with the impacts of federal inaction.”

ICE and Boston city authorities did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

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