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What Mass. sheriffs can — and can't — do with ICE
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The Celtics face their biggest challenge of the young season tonight: the still-undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers. But first, the news:
A new sheriff in town: Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu both recently said they won’t allow state or city police to assist any mass deportation efforts by President-elect Donald Trump. But as WBUR’s Deborah Becker reports, a different level of government could play a crucial role in the incoming administration’s expected crackdown on immigrants without legal status: sheriffs.
- What they can do: Sheriffs in Massachusetts oversee county jails for pretrial and short-term inmates. And each of the state’s 14 sheriffs sets their own policies. That includes the ability to sign contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to assist deportation efforts by agreeing to hold people detained by the federal agency.
- What they can’t do: Some, like Worcester County’s Republican sheriff Lew Evangelidis, would like more leeway to keep people in custody for ICE to pick up. However, a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court decision ruled sheriffs cannot do that, if that person would have otherwise been released.
- The latest: Currently, the only facility in the state with an ICE contract is the Plymouth County’s correctional facility. There used to be more, but agreements in Suffolk, Franklin, Bristol and Barnstable counties have been terminated in recent years.
- What impact could Trump have? Sheriffs can’t be required to cooperate with ICE. However, even Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux — a Democrat who ousted a Trump ally in 2022 — conceded the incoming administration could use federal funding as a stick. “That’s probably the easiest, the most direct way that the federal government could impact Massachusetts is withholding those federal funds,” Heroux told Deb.
- Go deeper: Read Deb’s full story here on how local officials at different levels of government are planning to respond to the feds’ deportation push. (And scroll below for Anthony Brooks’ feature on Healey’s shift in tone toward the president-elect.)
RIP: Massachusetts’ oldest resident — who was also the second-oldest person in the U.S. — has died. Wellesley officials confirmed yesterday that Herlda Senhouse passed away Saturday at the age of 113.
- Senhouse, born a year before Fenway Park opened, moved from West Virginia to Woburn in her teens. She graduated from Woburn High School and lived in Wellesley for over 40 years.
- WBUR’s Amy Sokolow reports Senhouse — who participated in Boston University’s centenarian study — requested for her brain to be donated to researchers studying the science of aging. (While celebrating her birthday earlier this year, Senhouse joked her secret to longevity was that she didn’t have children.)
Progress on the picket line: School is again canceled today in Beverly, Gloucester and Marblehead due to ongoing teacher strikes, but one of the three could be close to an end. Gloucester school officials are telling families and staff to prepare to return to school tomorrow. “While this is not guaranteed, we have made tangible progress towards an agreement and everyone should be ready to return to school,” Gloucester Superintendent Ben Lummis said.
- Beverly school officials also said they made a “significant offer” last night that includes additional raises for paraprofessionals, “which we hope will be a breakthrough in negotiations.”
On the docket: Several of the 17 people arrested while protesting this past weekend’s anti-abortion march in Boston are due in court today. WBUR’s Jesús Marrero Suárez reports most of the counter-protesters have been charged with misdemeanors, though one person was charged with assault and battery. The counter-protesters attempted to block the march by forming lines on the street near Kenmore Square and did not obey orders to disperse, police said.
- Today’s court appearances come after more than a dozen of the counterprotesters were arraigned yesterday, including Riley Dowell, the daughter of Rep. Katherine Clark.
Red flag: Police have arrested a 72-year-old Attleboro man who they say has been intentionally starting brush fires across the city, with the risk of wildfires already high.
- A red flag warning is in effect again today for all of Massachusetts due the risk of wildfires. Crews are also now fighting a 40-acre brush fire that sparked yesterday in the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton. It’s one of 20 active fires burning across the state.
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