July 24, 2017

Massachusetts high court rules against holding uncharged immigrants for ICE

NPR - The highest court in Massachusetts ruled that local law enforcement cannot keep people in custody solely at the request of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The practice, often known as an "ICE detainer," enabled federal authorities to take a longer look at the immigration status of people whom they suspect might be in the country illegally, even if they were otherwise free to leave.

"This could mean the individual's charges have been dismissed, they've posted bail or their jail sentence has been completed," Shannon Dooling of member station WBUR explains. "The detainer — which is not the same as an arrest warrant, which requires proof of probable cause and a judge's signature — gives ICE up to two days to look into a person's immigration status and potentially pursue deportation."

But the state's laws provide "no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer, beyond the time that the individual would otherwise be entitled to be released from State custody," the Supreme Judicial Court said in its unanimous decision.

And because deportation is a civil process, "not a criminal prosecution," the court appeared skeptical that state police — not just court officers — could accede to an ICE detainer either: "Conspicuously absent from our common law is any authority (in the absence of a statute) for police officers to arrest generally for civil matters, let alone authority to arrest specifically for Federal civil immigration matters."

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