May 24, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Evan Lips, communications director
617-523-5005 ext. 245
WOBURN -- Days after President Joe Biden's administration ordered the shutdown of Bristol County's criminal illegal alien lockup, Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons warned that shutting down the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention unit is only the first step of a dramatic rollback of illegal immigration enforcement.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson during an interview called out Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
"He (Mayorkas) stood on television, looked people in the eye, and said 'there's no crisis at the border,'" Hodgson pointed out. "He was lying then and he's lying now about our facility to advance this rollback."
Lyons said Democrats are working to close the rest of the country's ICE criminal detention centers.
"The Radical Left, led by Joe Biden, has promised to defund police and open up our borders, and this is their first step," Lyons said. "They've telegraphed this rollback move already, and they've shown us over the years that they care a lot more about politics than public safety and the rule of law."
The closing of the detention center marks one of the first steps made by the Biden administration to end ICE's 287-G program, the 1996 policy that formed alliances between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
Hodgson said Mayorkas met last month with sheriffs representing areas lying along the southern border and "told them he is looking to get rid of the 287-G program." The program, Lyons said, has been instrumental in combatting illegal human trafficking and the spread of lethal opioids such as fentanyl.
Below is a sampling of individuals who've recently been detained in Bristol County as a result of the 287-G agreement:
- On December 10, 2020, the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of Honduras charged with rape of a child statutory and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject last entered the United States on an unknown date and location without inspection after having been previously removed.
- On November 11, 2020, the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of Guatemala charged with assault and battery on a family household member and strangulation/suffocation and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject has prior arrests for assault with a dangerous weapon, arson of a dwelling, and attempted murder which are pending. The subject entered the United States on an unknown date and location without inspection.
- On October 13, 2020, the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of El Salvador charged with armed carjacking and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject entered the United States on an unknown date and location without inspection.
- On April 13, 2020, the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office 287(g) Program encountered a citizen of Brazil charged with 11 counts of credit card fraud, 15 counts of identity fraud , and 15 counts of credit card forgery and placed an immigration detainer and warrant on the subject. The subject last entered the United States as a nonimmigrant visitor.
"The Democrats would rather play politics and have these individuals free to roam wherever they want in Bristol County and elsewhere in Massachusetts than to ensure the safety of their own constituents," Lyons said. "It's a sad commentary, and unfortunately, only the beginning of what they intend to accomplish.
"The party of open borders and defunding police is acting exactly as advertised, and it's all but a certainty that their policies will result in disaster."
