BOSTON (AP) 鈥 A district attorney in Boston harshly criticized the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday after one of its agents detained a suspect while he was on trial.
ICE agent Brian Sullivan took Wilson Martell-Lebron, 49, into custody last week as he was leaving court. A Boston Municipal Court judge issued , arguing that he deprived Martell-Lebron of his rights to due process and fair trial.
鈥淭his action by ICE was troubling and extraordinarily reckless,鈥 Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said. 鈥淎s the judge noted, ICE's actions deprived Mr. Martell-Lebron of his right to a fair trial. It also deprived our office of our intent to hold the defendant accountable for his alleged crime.鈥
Hayden also said such actions make Boston less safe 鈥 contrary to what, he said, ICE claims.
ICE threating public safety
鈥淚've watched ICE actions over the last few months, and I have concerns that those actions are harming our public safety goals,鈥 Hayden said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e now finding witnesses reluctant to cooperate with investigators due to fear of ICE. This harms public safety. We are seeing victims refuse to provide information about crimes against them due to fear of ICE. This harms public safety.鈥
A spokesman for ICE did not return a call seeking comment.
Summerville dismissed a charge against Martell-Lebron of making false statements on his driver鈥檚 license application 鈥 namely that he was not Martell-Lebron. After that Summerville filed the contempt charge against Sullivan, which could lead Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden review the case to determine whether any charges should be filed.
鈥淚t's reprehensible,鈥 said Ryan Sullivan, one of Martell-Lebron's lawyers. 鈥淟aw enforcement agents have a job to see justice is done. Prosecutors have a job to see justice is done. There is no greater injustice in my mind than the government arresting someone, without identifying themselves, and preventing them from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to a jury trial.鈥
Justice Department says contempt charge should be dismissed
The Justice Department filed a motion Wednesday in federal court supporting Sullivan's effort to dismiss the charge. It argued that the state court lacked the authority to 鈥渋ssue that patently unlawful and erroneous order.鈥
鈥淭his damaging state intrusion into federal functions is the precise harm that the Supremacy Clause guards against,鈥 U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in the motion. 鈥淭he state court鈥檚 order disregards bedrock principles of federalism and inflicts an unacceptable burden (and ongoing threat of criminal prosecution) on a duly authorized federal official. This Court should immediately vacate the state court order.鈥
Immigration officers were a growing presence at courthouses during Trump鈥檚 first term, prompting pushback from judges and other local officials. The president has gone further in his second term by repealing a policy in place since 2011 for agents to generally avoid places such as schools, houses of worship and hospitals.
Under current policy, immigration officials can make arrests 鈥渋n or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present鈥 and as long as they are not prohibited from doing so by state or local law.
鈥淭he fact that this arrest occurred in between trial days during the Commonwealth鈥檚 prosecution of Defendant 鈥 and thus, in the state court鈥檚 (mistaken) view, violated Defendant鈥檚 right to attend his trial 鈥 does not alter the analysis,鈥 Foley said. 鈥淭he whole point of Supremacy Clause immunity is that federal law 鈥 not state law, state authorities, or state proceedings 鈥 must govern the conduct of federal officials in carrying out their federal duties.鈥
Hayden said he could not recall a case where ICE detained a defendant during a trial.
鈥淚t should not have happened, and we鈥檙e going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn鈥檛 happen again,鈥 he told reporters.
Tense scene when Martell-Lebron was detained
Sullivan described a tense scene in which ICE agents pounced on Martell-Lebron without identifying themselves, put him into a pickup and sped away. The trial had just begun Thursday with opening statements and the first witnesses.
The Justice Department said in its motion that agents including Sullivan identified themselves and told Martell-Lebron to stop before detaining him.
Sullivan said Martell-Lebron, who is from the Dominican Republic and living with family in Massachusetts, is now at the Plymouth detention facility for allegedly being an undocumented immigrant, he said.
In its motion, the Justice Department also alleged that Martell-Lebron is in the country illegally and has several criminal convictions for drug trafficking. It also said ICE has been trying to detain him since 2007.
During the two-day hearing, Sullivan said the lead prosecution witness confirmed that both the Massachusetts State police and prosecutors were aware of ICE plans to arrest Martell-Lebron.
鈥淲hat we were challenging is that they arrested him in the middle of his trial and did not return him,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f he had been brought to court on Friday morning by ICE, we would not have moved to dismiss. We would not be asking for sanctions. We would have just finished the trial."
Did state officials help ICE?
In a statement Tuesday, state police said they acted appropriately after learning of ICE's plans. 鈥淎s in any situation where a member becomes aware of federal immigration enforcement, the Troopers responded appropriately by neither assisting nor obstructing the federal action,鈥 the statement said.
Hayden also defended his attorneys' handling of the situation, denying they helped ICE. He said they twice requested the judge issue an order compelling ICE to return Martell-Lebron.
鈥淎ll of our actions in this case clearly demonstrated our intent to hold Martell-Lebron accountable,鈥 Hayden said. 鈥淣one of that demonstrated any collusion with ICE to deprive him of his right to a trial. Any claim that we collaborated with ICE in their actions to remove the defendant from the trial are wholly unsupported by any credible evidence.鈥
