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Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux criticized ICE after federal agents detained a man who had posted bail.
Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux in 2022. Lane Turner / The Boston Globe, File
A Massachusetts sheriff is harshly criticizing ICE, saying the agency is attempting to intimidate him into breaking state and federal law.
The friction between ICE and Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux was sparked by a social media post made by federal officials last week. ICE’s Boston office said that it had arrested a Honduran man in New Bedford who has a variety of pending gun charges.
In a follow-up post on X, the agency blamed the Bristol County House of Corrections for releasing the man “without honoring the ICE detainer.” Federal officials attacked “sanctuary politicians,” accusing them of allowing dangerous criminals to roam the streets.
Heroux said he was made aware of the post after reporters reached out to him for comment. He responded to ICE, saying that honoring the detainer would mean violating state and federal law.
“It’s very clear that what ICE was trying to do was intimidate me, or bully me, or try to get me to be afraid of them singling me out like this,” Heroux told Boston.com. “But I’m not going to tolerate that type of unprofessional behavior from another law enforcement organization. The law is on my side on this. Period. They are completely wrong with what they’re asking me to do.”
ICE detainers are requests made by the agency when it has determined that local law enforcement have detained an undocumented immigrant. Through these detainers, ICE asks local authorities to hold detainees for longer periods of time so that they can be transferred into ICE custody.
But compliance is not mandatory. In fact, Massachusetts state law actively prevents most local law enforcement officials from complying. The state’s highest court ruled in 2017 that local law enforcement agencies do not have the authority to detain people solely on immigration detainers.
ICE still routinely lodges detainers with local authorities in Massachusetts. Boston police, for example, ignored all 57 detainer requests it received in 2025.
Local authorities can enter into 287(g) agreements with ICE, which deputize local officers and allow them to carry out some immigration enforcement activities. The Massachusetts Department of Correction maintains the only active 287(g) agreement in the state.
The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office’s 287(g) contract was terminated by the Biden administration in 2021. This came after then-Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey issued a scathing report that found the office violated the civil rights of federal immigration detainees.
Heroux cited the 2017 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision and a 2012 Supreme Court decision in defending his comments. The Supreme Court decision, Arizona v. United States, specifies that state governments do not have the authority to enforce federal immigration law.
“What the public needs to know is that a detainer is a request, and it’s a request for us to break the law, to break state law and federal law in the absence of a 287(g) contract,” he said.
Heroux broadly criticized the Trump administration, saying that it has violated the civil rights of citizens and failed to properly investigate incidents of excessive force. He bemoaned the loss of federal grant money, which eliminated the positions of 18 case workers who provided programming to inmates at the jail.
After former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was fired earlier this year, Heroux said he hoped that a change in leadership might cause ICE to act like a “mature, professional” law enforcement organization. Instead, the recent incident proves that this has not happened, he added.
“Even with new leadership in the wake of the firing of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, it remains amateur hour in ICE,” he said in a release.
Although ICE’s enforcement operations are not has highly visible as they were late last year and early this year, the agency is still working to increase arrest rates. More than 10,000 people were detained around the country in a recent surge, The New York Times reported.
Heroux sat down with a local ICE administrator months ago, but the agency did not reach out to him directly regarding the recent release of the Honduran man, he said.
He is adamant that the law is on his side.
“If they think I broke the law, they can take me to court over it. Because we will win that 10 out of 10 times. The law is very clear about this,” Heroux said.
Spokespeople for ICE did not return a request for comment Tuesday.
The Honduran man, identified by ICE as Jose Raul Martinez-Alvardo, has “pending charges for unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm, unlawful possession of a large capacity feeding device, resisting arrest, carrying a firearm without a license and carrying a loaded firearm without a license,” according to ICE.
The man is identified in court documents as Jose Raul Martinez-Alvarado. He faces six charges in New Bedford District Court and was scheduled to appear for a probable cause hearing on Wednesday.
New Bedford police arrested Martinez-Alvarado on June 7 after responding to an address on Viall Street “for a report of a 911 open line with yelling heard in the background,” according to a police report.
Officers found several men arguing in an apartment “in disarray,” with suspected cocaine nearby. They frisked Martinez-Alvarado and found a gun on him. He “actively resisted” arrest before being detained, according to the report.
Martinez-Alvarado had been released on bail, Heroux said.
Heroux pushed back on the notion that undocumented immigrants charged with crimes should be quickly deported. When someone who posts bail has been deported, the victim and their family is deprived of justice, he said.
Heroux advocated for a system where deportations occur after an individual has been convicted and served their sentence.
“If you just deport somebody, there’s no justice,” he said. “You’ve only addressed the civil violation, and immigration violations typically are civil. That’s often overlooked.”
Ross Cristantiello
Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.
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