Overview
- A federal judge dismissed the Department of Justice's lawsuit against Boston on Thursday, ruling the DOJ lacked standing and could not show an injunction would fix the harms it described.
- Judge Leo T. Sorokin relied on a 2017 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that says civil immigration detainers do not give local police authority to hold people beyond state law limits.
- The suit, filed in September, named the City of Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu, the Boston Police Department, and Police Commissioner Michael A. Cox as defendants.
- Sorokin noted the DOJ has lost similar challenges in other states and said state courts, the Massachusetts legislature, or Congress would be more appropriate venues to seek change.
- The ruling leaves the Boston Trust Act in place and means local police will not be required to detain or turn over people solely on ICE civil requests, a result that affects how immigrants and public-safety officials interact in the city.