Nearly 1,500 in Massachusetts detained by ICE in last month. "We're going to keep coming back," acting director says
Nearly 1,500 people have been detained in Massachusetts by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the last month, the agency said Monday.
ICE acting director Todd Lyons told reporters at a news conference in Boston that 1,461 people have been hauled into custody since Operation Patriot began in May.
790 had criminal records or charges pending
Of those detained, 790 had criminal records or charges pending, according to ICE. That would be 54% of all the people taken into custody in May.
"Boston's my hometown and it really shocks me that officials all over Massachusetts would rather release sex offenders, fentanyl dealers, drug dealers, human traffickers, and child rapists back in the neighborhoods," Lyons said.
Gov. Healey on ICE actions
"ICE has arrested individuals with criminal convictions and criminal backgrounds which I support," responded Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. "By their own admission they have also arrested several hundreds of individuals in Massachusetts and taken them away who do not have criminal records."
"What I have said as a matter of due process and because everybody should be following the law here, following the rules here, ICE should be producing information about who has been arrested, what they've been charged with, what their circumstance was, and they should make that available to the public. That to me is consistent with public safety. And supporting our communities," the governor said.
"These are actions that continue to lack transparency and instill fear in communities instead of protecting public safety. Arresting people without any criminal record or allegations of criminal activity, detaining individuals in broad daylight without due process, and promising to patrol neighborhoods with no oversight is not reflective of a democratic society – it's a threat to it," Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in a statement regarding ICE's press conference.
Lyons called out so-called "sanctuary cities" in Massachusetts demanding they change their policies. He said that they've arrested a sex offender living across from a playground and "a habitual drunk driver," among others. Pointing to a post with the mugshots of 14 men on it, Lyons said the general public should remember the faces of the people ICE has arrested.
ICE agents wearing masks during raids
Lyons also defended ICE agents wearing masks during the raids in May, which has come under scrutiny from protesters in Massachusetts.
"People are out there taking photos of their names, of their faces, and posting them online with death threats to their family and themselves. So I'm sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I'm not going to let my officers and agents go out there, put their lives and put their family on the line because people don't like what immigration enforcement is," Lyons said.
U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley emphasized that ICE operations in the state are focused on public safety.
"These are not immigrants, they are criminals," Foley said. She explained that the people ICE has arrested "didn't simply cross the border. They crossed the line."
"We're going to keep coming back"
Lyons said Operation Patriot will continue in Massachusetts in June.
"Make no mistake. ICE is going to keep doing this," he said. "We're going to keep coming back. Because ICE is gonna make sure that we keep communities safe and keep our neighborhoods safe from these sex offenders and these criminal aliens."
