The showdown between the district attorney at Boston and the Trump administration is heating up after the top federal prosecutor in the Democrat-run city threatened to bring felony charges against a local official who objected to immigration-related arrests. 

The Suffolk County district attorney, Kevin Hayden, said his office was exploring criminal charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Brian Sullivan, for detaining an illegal immigrant in the middle of a criminal trial. Mr. Sullivan was held in contempt by the judge presiding over that case. 

In a letter dated April 2, the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Leah Foley, warned the district attorney that he could be at risk of felony charges himself if he continues his attacks.

“The fact that you disfavor ICE officers doing their jobs is not a basis for criminal charges. In fact, there is no legal basis for such charges,” Ms. Foley wrote in a letter obtained by the Boston Herald. “You may very well disagree with the enforcement of our federal immigration laws, but it is inappropriate to suggest to the public that federal officers can be criminally prosecuted by your office or any other state or local prosecutor’s office for performing their official duties.”

The letter stated that “any attempt or threat to interfere with the lawful actions of federal government agents will not be tolerated.” 

“Indeed, under Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a), it is a felony offense to assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with an immigration officer’s efforts to duly execute the immigration laws of the United States,” Ms. Foley said. 

The Suffolk County district attorney’s office told the Sun, “We received the US Attorney’s letter.  As made clear by DA Hayden, we do not want to see the historic crime reduction trends in Boston jeopardized by ICE actions that discourage victims and witnesses from cooperating against criminal offenders.”

In a letter to the jurist who found Mr. Sullivan in contempt, Judge Mark Summerville, Ms. Foley said the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution “immunizes federal officers from state prosecution” and there is “simply no legal basis for you to hold federal officers in criminal contempt for carrying out their sworn duties.”

“Any attempt or threat to interfere with the lawful functions of federal government agents will not be tolerated,” Ms. Foley warned the judge. 

Since President Trump’s election, Boston officials have struck an adversarial tone toward the new administration and its plan for mass deportations. However, the conflict escalated on March 27 when a defendant, Wilson Martell-Lebron, was arrested by ICE in the middle of a criminal trial for making false statements on a driver’s license application.

ICE agents arrested Martell-Lebron when he exited the courthouse. Immigration officials say his real name is Juan Carlos Baez and that he entered the country illegally in 2000.

Court records show that Martell-Lebron was previously convicted of two counts of trafficking cocaine and one count of trafficking heroin in 2009 and was released from prison in 2020. Current ICE policy, revised since President Trump took office, states that agents may make arrests “in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe [a] targeted alien is or will be present.”

The charges against Martell-Lebron were dropped by Judge Summerville, who said the arrest was a “case of violating a defendant’s right to present at trial and confront witnesses against him.”

Lawyers for Martell-Lebron have accused the district attorney’s office and local law enforcement of working with ICE to detain their client. 

The district attorney criticized ICE and said the arrest of Martell-Lebron was “troubling and extraordinarily reckless,” and that his office would examine the case to determine whether to bring charges against Mr. Sullivan. 

He also said the arrest has sparked fear in potential witnesses and prosecutors due to concerns they will be detained by ICE.

During an interview on the Howie Carr radio show, the top ICE official at Boston, Patricia Hyde, defended immigration officials’ actions and said local officials “backed ICE into a corner” by refusing to “cooperate” with them.