The police in Massachusetts have no authority to hold undocumented immigrants just so that they can be taken into custody by federal immigration authorities, according to a ruling from the top court in the state, delivered on Monday. The Supreme Judicial State Court ruled that to do so would constitute a fresh arrest, which is unauthorized under state law.
The ruling rejects Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requests for undocumented immigrants who face deportation to be held by law enforcement agencies and courts for 48 hours in the first ruling to apply to a whole US state, according to the Massachusetts Attorney General. In its decision, the court said that there was no authority under Massachusetts’s law for state court officers to place individuals under arrest and hold them in custody purely because of detainers from federal immigration authorities.
The particular case involved Cambodian, Sreynuon Lunn, who came to the US in 1985 as a refugee. After several criminal convictions, Lunn’s deportation back to Cambodia was ordered in 2008. But, Cambodia refused to accept him and Lunn was eventually released from custody.
Lunn was again arrested last year in Boston but was not charged, only to be taken into custody by ICE, while still in his holding cell. The state and Lunn’s attorney agree that Massachusetts had no authority to do this and the decision was praised by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.