Federal judge weighs Boston 'sanctuary city' case brought by Trump administration

Federal Judge Leo Sorokin is weighing arguments that could spell the end of the Justice Department’s “sanctuary city” case against the city of Boston and the Boston Police department — one of a dozen lawsuits filed against local and state governments that place guardrails on police collaboration with immigration agents.

Boston’s Trust Act limits cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to criminal matters, and bars police from honoring civil detainers that ask local police to hold people for up to 48 hours to facilitate an immigration arrest.

The federal suit argues that Boston obstructs federal law enforcement by refusing to share certain information with ICE, or to transfer custody of people they've arrested to ICE. The government says so-called sanctuary policies result in the release of dangerous criminals who would otherwise be subject to deportation proceedings.

Sorokin on Wednesday heard arguments regarding Boston’s motion to dismiss, which hinges on a claim that the government is trying to infringe on the city's ability to allocate its own resources, and looking to force Boston to comply with requests to help ICE with civil detainers.

“Boston’s policing resources go to criminal law enforcement,” said Sam Dinning, one of four lawyers representing the city. “That is what the Trust Act protects.”

Dinning told the judge the Justice Department has pointed only to theoretical examples of the Trust Act’s harm to the government, and “not a single instance” where the policy resulted in actual harm.

He also noted that the city does cooperate with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations branch — which handles criminal matters including transnational crime — in contrast to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, which deals largely with civil immigration infractions.

The city is asking Sorokin to dismiss the case “with prejudice.” That would mean Boston would not face repeat litigation in the First District Court.

Sean Skedzielewski, a Justice Department attorney who entered his appearance in the case two weeks ago, argued that Boston’s Trust Act impedes federal officers from enforcing immigration laws, “so aliens are released and have to be arrested at large.”

Skedzielewski also claimed local law enforcement agencies are required to honor detainers, a claim that seemed to surprise the city’s lawyers and Judge Sorokin.

Sorokin pointed to a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court decision that prohibits Massachusetts law enforcement from holding people after they’re ordered released.

“You want me to order them to violate state law?” Sorokin asked the federal prosecutor.

“No your honor, we’re only asking for an injunction against the Boston Trust Act,” Skedzielewski responded.

Sorokin grilled Skedzielewski on his legal training: "You went to a law school that didn’t require criminal law?"

"I have to check my transcripts," Skedzielewski replied.

Sorokin went on to lecture him about how criminal arrest warrants work — distinct from the administrative warrants ICE typically uses.

Among more than a dozen observers in the courtroom was Jessie Rossman, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. After the hearing, she noted Sorokin’s skepticism on several of the government’s arguments, including one mentioned in court for the first time Wednesday.

"This extraordinarily broad statement that these detainer requests — which are requests — are somehow compulsory," Rossman said. "It's not what the law says.”