Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an undocumented immigrant at Suffolk Superior Court on Jan. 7 after he had arrived for an arraignment on charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. Rightfully so, on Friday, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins criticized this action.
“I absolutely find this incredibly troubling, irrespective of what this person was charged with,” Rollins said. “This is a high priority for me. I’m personally looking into this incident. I will personally be getting the answers.”
Alfeu Barbosa, the undocumented immigrant, had a long criminal record, according to an ICE official. He had recently been convicted of breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony and resisting arrest, the official said.
The official told the Boston Globe, “We do intend to do our jobs, and this is clearly someone whose welcome to the United States has expired.”
He said that ICE officials are not going to apologize for wanting to take Barbosa into custody.
ICE has been more brazen in its arresting and deportation, especially under President Donald Trump’s leadership. The current practice of arresting undocumented immigrants at state and federal courts for charges unrelated to their immigration status poses a risk to public safety.
Judges, defense attorneys, police leaders and some prosecutors agree that this practice is harmful to society because it disincentives undocumented immigrants, who may be witnesses and victims, from reporting crimes.
“If people believe they’re going to be … deported if they come to court, why would anyone come?” Rollins said. “The chilling effect is going to be problematic, in particular when I ran on a platform of telling people that we’re going to bridge the gap between law enforcement and the community so there can be trust.”
Rollins is correct to be upset regarding ICE’s intrusion. This was a Suffolk County case, and everyone is entitled due process. ICE shouldn’t have full reign to deport people wherever, whenever. Everyone has a right to fair trial — even if they are here illegally.
By superseding the court proceeding, ICE infringed on Barbosa’s right as a human, regardless of whether he was innocent or guilty.
Barbosa’s lawyer argued that if she knew ICE was coming, she would have asked that his bail be revoked so that he could be in the state’s custody, preventing ICE from conducting the arrest.
Of the nearly 160,000 administrative arrests ICE conducted last year, only 66 percent had criminal convictions. And of the approximately 256,000 deportations the agency conducted, just 57 percent were convicted criminals. In Boston, only about 52 percent were convicted criminals. Moreover, arrests of undocumented immigrants in Boston were up 50 percent in 2018.
In North Carolina, ICE agents arrested an undocumented mother and her teenage son, who were victims of alleged domestic violence, in a courthouse after they had finished a hearing on charges the alleged abuser had filed against the woman. The county dropped the charges against her a couple weeks later, after deeming it had insufficient evidence.
Currently, if someone enters the court system, they are vulnerable to arrest and deportation by ICE before even facing a conviction. This legally grants abusers a greater capacity to emotionally and physically abuse victims if they file charges against the undocumented victims.
Communication between the Suffolk County District Attorney Office and ICE is paramount. While ICE shouldn’t be able to arrest undocumented immigrants at local court hearings, Rollins should ensure that violent offenders who are here illegally are reported to ICE.
Americans need transparency between DA’s offices such as Rollins’ and ICE to ensure undocumented immigrants’ protection in a courthouse and trust in the system. Otherwise, the undocumented immigrants who have committed no crimes at all will be worse off.
