Massachusetts top court to hear case on
illegal immigrant detention
Send a link to a friend
[April 04, 2017]
By Scott Malone
BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts' top court
is set to hear arguments on Tuesday on whether state authorities can
detain illegal immigrants who come in contact with the legal system to
buy time for federal authorities to take them into custody.
The arguments revolve around the case of Sreynuon Lunn, an illegal
immigrant who was arrested last year in Boston on an unarmed robbery
charge and ordered released in February after prosecutors failed to
present a case. While he was waiting to be let out from his court
holding cell, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took
him into custody, citing a 2008 deportation order.
Backed by civil liberties groups, attorneys for Lunn argue that state
and federal laws prohibit state authorities from complying with requests
from ICE to hold illegal immigrants who are taken into custody for up to
48 hours longer than local laws allow to permit federal agents to take
them into custody.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/04/images/ads/current/mcentire_sda_FLYERS_2016.png)
President Donald Trump has taken a tough tone on immigration, vowing to
wall off the Mexican border, deport an estimated 11 million undocumented
people living in the country and cut off Justice Department grants to
cities that fail to help U.S. immigration authorities.
While Lunn's arrest by ICE makes the case moot, the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court agreed to take it up because it raised
"important, recurring, time-sensitive issues."
Immigration advocates argue that Massachusetts authorities who comply
with ICE's detainer requests are violating state laws and the U.S.
Constitution by carrying out an arrest without a warrant.
The state largely agreed with the plaintiffs' claims, saying that local
law enforcement agencies lack the authority to hold people based on
federal immigration requests.
"This court should hold that Massachusetts law precludes detaining
persons solely on the basis of an ICE detainer," the state wrote in
court papers ahead of Tuesday's hearing.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/040417pics/news_b3.jpg)
A demonstrator holds a sign during a rally at the City College of
New York (CCNY) to protest the immigration and deportation policies
of the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in the
Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon
Stapleton
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_090916.png)
"Such a clarification of the law may require some (law-enforcement
agencies) to re-assess their current policies and practices, and ICE
will have to rely on other means to advance its immigration
enforcement objectives."
Federal officials argued that long-established legal precedents
allow state and local authorities to temporarily hold illegal
immigrants to allow ICE to take them into custody.
"Without such cooperation, criminal aliens would be released back
into the communities, endangering public safety," federal officials
wrote in a court filing.
Lunn's attorneys declined to answer questions about his nationality
or the status of the deportation case.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Apr/04/images/ads/current/graue_preowned_033017.png) |