A blunt-talking Massachusetts sheriff is calling\nthe release of illegal aliens from his jail an \u201cunconscionable risk to public\nhealth and safety.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of Sunday, Judge William G. Young ordered the release of more than 40 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees<\/a> from the Bristol County House of Corrections over concerns about the spread of coronavirus. More are expected to hit the bricks in the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese are baseless rulings,\u201d Sheriff Thomas\nHodgson said during a teleconference on Monday. \u201cThere have been no COVID-19\ncases among detainees here. The judge\u2019s action creates a greater public health\nrisk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOutside of jail, these [detainees]have no\ndoctor, no job and no discipline. They have shown they cannot follow the law to\nbegin with. What do you think is going to happen now?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Voluntarily returning to jail at some future\ndate will likely not<\/em> happen, since\nseveral of the freed aliens had been under final removal orders from\nimmigration courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To alert the public, Hodgson this week began posting criminal charges and convictions<\/a> of detainees who were loosed on the streets without so much as a GPS tracking bracelet. In addition to violations of immigration law, their offenses ranged from rape, robbery and assault to drug trafficking, larceny and DUI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrew Arthur, an analyst with the Center for Immigration Studies<\/a>, questioned the legality of Judge Young\u2019s rulings, noting that U.S. law requires detention of aliens awaiting removal from the country, as well as those with criminal convictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In light of other court-ordered jail releases<\/a> of alien felons in California, FAIR<\/a> has stated that while civil society is obligated to protect immigration detainees from COVID-19 to the greatest extent possible, no jurist is under any obligation to ignore their offenses and set them at liberty because they\u00a0might<\/em>\u00a0become infected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arthur, a former ICE official who has inspected\nseveral of the agency\u2019s detention facilities, said detainees live in healthier\nconditions than they would out among the general civilian population. \u201cInside,\nthey have full medical access and ICE protocols for screening and\nquarantining,\u201d he observed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n