Sheriff McDonald is quoted [in a Plymouth Independent story] as saying, “Our cooperation with our federal partners continues to exist because it is my job to work with everyone in law enforcement.” Someone needs to inform the sheriff, and for that matter, Plymouth Select Board members of a state law on the books today. [The] Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision in Lunn v. Commonwealth (2017) ruled that state and local law enforcement officers lack the legal authority under state law to arrest or detain individuals based solely on a federal civil immigration detainer (an ICE request to hold a person). Detaining someone solely for federal civil immigration purposes violates Massachusetts law, as state arrest authority is limited to criminal offenses or specific statutory exceptions.
– Robert Antall