Chairmen Jordan and McClintock Demand Information on Sanctuary Policies from Boston Officials
May 27, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA) sent letters to Boston Police Department Commissioner Michael Cox, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, and Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins demanding information on their offices' dangerous sanctuary policies.
For years, the Boston Police Department (BPD) has not complied with ICE detainers, which Commissioner Cox has attributed to the Boston Trust Act's prohibition on cooperation with federal immigration officials. The Trust Act also prohibits BPD from notifying ICE about an alien's release from BPD custody.
Boston's pro-illegal alien policies ensure dangerous criminals are released onto Boston streets and free to reoffend. According to ICE, last year alone BPD ignored 167 detainers for aliens whose criminal histories included indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years or older, assault and battery on a family member, strangulation, felony assault, aggravated assault with a weapon, and cruelty toward a child.
Although Commissioner Cox claimed the number of declined detainers was 57, the Boston City Council voted earlier this year to keep the full detainer-related information hidden from the public. Boston officials' lack of transparency also means that the criminal histories of the aliens' for whom the detainers were lodged remain shrouded in secrecy.
DA Hayden's predecessor required prosecutors in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office to "investigate, review and resolve each case with justice in mind" and "remedy outcomes that are inconsistent with this mission." In doing so, she discussed what she described as the "extreme and unjust collateral consequences" of federal immigration law and questioned why foreign nationals in the United States should face long-term immigration consequences for their criminal activity. DA Hayden committed to continuing these policies, stating that his office would "consider immigration consequences as part of the prosecution decision and institute steps to avoid extreme immigration penalties including deportation." In practice, these pro-crime sanctuary policies ensure that criminal aliens can escape accountability for their actions and remain in the United States indefinitely.
In the past two years alone, ICE has arrested multiple criminal aliens that Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SCSD) released back into Boston communities instead of honoring ICE detainers, including an illegal alien from El Salvador charged with "indecent assault and battery on a child under 14;" an illegal alien from Colombia charged with "enticing a child under 16, distribution of obscene matter, and lascivious posing and exhibiting a child in the nude;" and an illegal alien from Guatemala "charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child."
Despite Sheriff Tompkins's goal "to serve and protect the citizens of Suffolk County," Boston's sanctuary policies endanger the communities he serves. Like other sanctuary jurisdictions the Committee has examined, the shielding of criminal aliens from immigration enforcement in Boston undermines public safety and thwarts the efficient enforcement of federal law.
Read the letter to Commissioner Cox here.
Read the letter to DA Hayden here.
Read the letter to Sheriff Tompkins here.
For years, the Boston Police Department (BPD) has not complied with ICE detainers, which Commissioner Cox has attributed to the Boston Trust Act's prohibition on cooperation with federal immigration officials. The Trust Act also prohibits BPD from notifying ICE about an alien's release from BPD custody.
Boston's pro-illegal alien policies ensure dangerous criminals are released onto Boston streets and free to reoffend. According to ICE, last year alone BPD ignored 167 detainers for aliens whose criminal histories included indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years or older, assault and battery on a family member, strangulation, felony assault, aggravated assault with a weapon, and cruelty toward a child.
Although Commissioner Cox claimed the number of declined detainers was 57, the Boston City Council voted earlier this year to keep the full detainer-related information hidden from the public. Boston officials' lack of transparency also means that the criminal histories of the aliens' for whom the detainers were lodged remain shrouded in secrecy.
DA Hayden's predecessor required prosecutors in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office to "investigate, review and resolve each case with justice in mind" and "remedy outcomes that are inconsistent with this mission." In doing so, she discussed what she described as the "extreme and unjust collateral consequences" of federal immigration law and questioned why foreign nationals in the United States should face long-term immigration consequences for their criminal activity. DA Hayden committed to continuing these policies, stating that his office would "consider immigration consequences as part of the prosecution decision and institute steps to avoid extreme immigration penalties including deportation." In practice, these pro-crime sanctuary policies ensure that criminal aliens can escape accountability for their actions and remain in the United States indefinitely.
In the past two years alone, ICE has arrested multiple criminal aliens that Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SCSD) released back into Boston communities instead of honoring ICE detainers, including an illegal alien from El Salvador charged with "indecent assault and battery on a child under 14;" an illegal alien from Colombia charged with "enticing a child under 16, distribution of obscene matter, and lascivious posing and exhibiting a child in the nude;" and an illegal alien from Guatemala "charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child."
Despite Sheriff Tompkins's goal "to serve and protect the citizens of Suffolk County," Boston's sanctuary policies endanger the communities he serves. Like other sanctuary jurisdictions the Committee has examined, the shielding of criminal aliens from immigration enforcement in Boston undermines public safety and thwarts the efficient enforcement of federal law.
Read the letter to Commissioner Cox here.
Read the letter to DA Hayden here.
Read the letter to Sheriff Tompkins here.
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