As part of an immigration enforcement crackdown in Massachusetts known as Operation Patriot, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested almost 1,500 people, federal officials announced Monday. The event also focused on what they consider sanctuary policies used in the commonwealth.
Leah Foley, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, and other individuals joined Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, to talk about the specifics of ICE’s activities in the state.
A kid from Milford High School was arrested over the weekend, part of a recent surge of ICE detainments in the Boston region.
According to Lyons, his agents have made 1,461 arrests in May, including foreign fugitives, drug traffickers, sex offenders, killers, and child predators.
He defended the effort, which has been the subject of intense public scrutiny in recent months, and claimed that the agency’s actions have made Massachusetts safer.
“All too often in Massachusetts and all over the commonwealth, people use ICE operations as a talking point which it shouldn’t be, it should be public safety all around,” Lyons stated.
Of those 1,461, 790 had “significant criminality,” according to officials, and 277 had been ordered to leave by immigration judges. A spokeswoman was unable to immediately provide a complete list of names and charges or provide a precise explanation of the word “significant criminality” when questioned.
Limited information regarding 14 of the arrests was disclosed in a news statement that accompanied the event on Monday. All of the cases came from Central and South America and were charged with a variety of offenses, including drug trafficking, assault, rape, and murder.
Patricia Hyde, acting Field Office Director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston, clarified that ICE officers are out in the community searching for criminals.
She did, however, state that they will make an arrest if they find someone who is in the country illegally during those searches.
According to both ICE officials, sanctuary city policies are causing criminals to be released back into their neighborhoods.
The federal officials stated that these policies make it impossible for them to engage with local governments to conduct custodial arrests instead of dispatching agents to find those who have been released into the community.
“When jurisdictions don’t cooperate with ICE and we don’t arrest people in custodial arrests, then we must go out into the community and when we go out into the community and find others that are unlawfully here we will arrest them,” Hyde stated.
Although Governor Maura Healey has stated that Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state, 13 of the state’s 14 counties are on the Department of Homeland Security’s newly released list of “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
According to state law, local law enforcement cannot retain someone in state custody for longer than what would have been the normal release period “solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer.”
Related Story: U.S. Government Removes Sanctuary Jurisdictions List From Website After Criticism
Lyons also took the time to commend his agents, stating that they are facing more and more dangers to their safety, such as doxxing instances and, in certain situations, threats of death directed at them and their loved ones.
Some towns in Massachusetts have reacted negatively to the heightened enforcement, with some residents confronting ICE in the streets.
Concerns regarding the treatment of ICE agents were echoed by Foley.
She added, “What I have seen on the news and social media is concerning to say the least,” and that her agency will not put up with anyone who interferes with or obstructs ICE procedures.
