Bristol County Sheriff: BCSO doesn’t have authority or staff to enforce federal immigration, references lawsuit under Hodgson

In referencing a release from Massachusetts Sheriffs stating it is unlawful for state and local law enforcement agencies to arrest or detain people solely on the basis of an ICE detainer, Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux has issued the following statement.

 “I have heard from many concerned citizens that they insist that I enforce federal immigration law. I even read one person say “get your badge, put on your cowboy hat Sheriff, and get out there and arrest the illegals. Do you job, Sheriff!” As I have mentioned before, at the BCSO, there are several reasons that I cannot get directly involved with federal immigration issues.

“The first reason is that, per the MSA statement, Sheriffs and the BCSO don’t have the authority to enforce federal immigration. This lack of authority to enforce federal immigration is the same conclusion that the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association came to in an advisory that they issued on the subject. 

“The Second reason is that I don’t have the available staff. We are already stretched too thin being short-staffed overseeing 650 inmates. We routinely force Corrections Officers to do overtime to fill necessary posts on housing units. Bringing more people into this jail system (ICE detainees) would add to the stress that this system already experiences.

“A third reason is that the BCSO is currently being sued for millions from an incident that happened in May 2020 under the previous sheriff, resulting in the loss of the BCSO’s contracts with ICE. Concerning the lawsuit, the federal government/ICE is telling us that it is a state issue, and meanwhile the state’s attorney general is telling the BCSO that the BCSO was acting as an agent of the federal government so the lawsuit is a federal issue. This leaves the taxpayers exposed to costly legal fees. Therefore, I rhetorically ask – why would I want to enter into a 287g contract when it didn’t go well for us the last time?

“I, and by extension the entire BCSO, will cooperate and give ICE any and all information that we are legally allowed to share. The BCSO recognizes that ICE has an important and difficult job to do, and we are not going to make their job any more difficult by getting in their way or withholding information we possess from ICE.

“In simple terms, the law doesn’t allow us to make arrests solely on the basis of immigration violations, we are too shorts staffed anyway, and it didn’t go well for this organization in the past. But the BCSO will cooperate and provide ICE any information we are legally allowed to give.

“It is my hope that the public understands that sheriffs, police, and state police don’t have the legal authority to arrest immigration violators solely on the basis of one’s immigration status. This may come as a shock to many people but consider that local and state law enforcement cannot enforce federal immigration any more than the FBI, DEA or ICE cannot issue speeding tickets. The Constitution by design doesn’t allow states to do the work of the federal government, unless there is an agreement such as a 287g contract.”