By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) – Massachusetts’ new top federal prosecutor on Wednesday vowed to investigate local officials if they obstruct the ramped up immigration arrests being carried out by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, saying “no one gets a pass.”
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley, the Trump administration’s pick to lead the Massachusetts arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, told reporters during an event in Boston she hoped to find areas to work together with Democratic Governor Maura Healey’s office and local district attorneys.
But Foley said she disagreed with Healey and Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on how to ensure the community’s safety and said her focus, like that of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would be to “find and remove illegal immigrants in this country who have committed crimes.”
“We’re not asking them to do our jobs,” she said, referring to local officials. “ICE is not asking them to do ICE’s job. We want them to do their jobs. But we would also expect that they don’t interfere with federal agents doing their jobs.”
Karissa Hand, Healey’s spokesperson, in a statement said the governor “has been clear that violent criminals should be deported.” She said state law enforcement “routinely work with federal authorities to keep our communities safe.”
Wu’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but she has defended Boston’s status as a so-called “sanctuary city” that limits cooperation on immigration enforcement.
Foley, a longtime federal prosecutor, was named the interim U.S. Attorney on Jan. 20, Trump’s first day back in office.
As part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to curtail immigration, the Justice Department last month directed federal prosecutors to consider criminal investigations of state and local officials if they interfere with immigration enforcement.
Massachusetts’ highest court in 2017 issued a ruling that limited how state courts and local law enforcement could assist with federal immigration enforcement.
ICE has at times accused Massachusetts and local courts of ignoring its requests to detain non-citizens arrested on local state charges.
“I think it is troubling that any judge would interfere with a federal law enforcement officer doing his or her job,” Foley said. “That is not a judge’s role. And we will investigate.”
Her office during Trump’s first term secured an indictment in 2019 charging a Massachusetts judge, Shelley Joseph, with impeding a federal immigration arrest of a defendant in her courtroom.
Prosecutors in 2022 during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration agreed to drop the case in exchange for her referring herself to disciplinary authorities. A disciplinary case is pending.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Deepa Babington)
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