Massachusetts sheriff accuses ICE of intimidation for not honoring detainer: "Trying to bully us"
Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux is accusing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of attempted intimidation after ICE Boston wrote on X that his office did not honor a detainer.
"They were trying to bully us, they were trying to intimidate me, probably try to publicly shame me," Heroux told reporters during a news conference, Tuesday.
Suspect released after posting bail
A back and forth between Heroux and immigration officials started with the arrest of 40-year-old Jose Raul Martinez-Alvarado on June 7. Martinez-Alvarado was charged with possession of a large capacity firearm, carrying a firearm without a license, and resisting arrest after New Bedford Police say they found him in an apartment where a group of men were fighting with residual cocaine present.
Martinez-Alvardo was sent to Bristol County Jail where he posted his $1,000 bail and was released on June 9. He was then picked up by ICE on July 2.
ICE posted on X that Martinez-Alvardo is illegally in the country from Honduras.
The post also stated, "Bristol County House of Corrections RELEASED Martinez-Alvardo without honoring the ICE detainer. ICE Boston will do what sanctuary politicians will not: keep dangerous criminals off our streets."
Massachusetts law prevents police from enforcing detainers
ICE detainers are a request to a local or state law enforcement agency to hold an individual for up to 48 hours beyond their release date so ICE can take them into custody. Heroux says his office could not honor this detainer since Massachusetts law prevents law enforcement from holding individuals solely on the basis of their immigration status.
"Under the Lunn decision, we are not allowed to hold somebody past when the bail is posted. We have to release them," Heroux said.
The sheriff went even further, saying that he has no intention of working with ICE at all.
"I'm not going to notify ICE because ICE routinely violates peoples' civil rights and I don't want this organization or me to be named as a co-defendant when things go sideways," Heroux said.
"As of right now, they don't act like a professional law enforcement agency. They act more Gestapo like," he added.
Todd Lyons, who served as the Acting Director of ICE from 2025 to the spring of 2026, strongly disagreed with Heroux's assertions that ICE violates civil rights.
"I can tell you just from leading the agency at the highest level, that a lot of it just wasn't true," Lyons told WBZ. "You look at the number of public safety threats we have arrested, if you look at the number of TdA gang members, the amount of known and suspected terrorists that ICE removed last year."
Lyons also criticized Heroux's lack of cooperation, arguing it puts ICE agents and community members in danger.
"A local police officer has already deemed that person a public safety threat so why not work with the feds to get these people off the street," Lyons said.
WBZ reached out to ICE Boston for a comment and did not receive a response.
