While the backlash over so-called “sanctuary city” policies has largely centered on New York and California, Massachusetts is quickly establishing itself as a leader in sanctuary city insanity.

According to a recent report from Fox News’ Bill Melugin, in just the past few months at least five illegal aliens charged with serious crimes – including child rape – are “repeatedly being released from jail with ridiculously low bail” in Massachusetts.

That list includes a Guatemalan charged with three counts of aggravated child rape released on $7,500 bail; another Guatemalan charged with aggravated child rape of a victim nine years old or younger also released on $7,500 bail; a Honduran charged with assault, rape, and masked armed robbery released on his own recognizance with $0 bail; two illegal alien inmates in Worcester County charged with child rape who received $500 bail; and another Honduran charged with fentanyl trafficking and released on $4,000 bail.

For at least three of those individuals, local authorities ignored detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – intentionally protecting the criminal illegal aliens from deportation.

Massachusetts has become notorious for such cases. Juan Alberto Rodezno-Marin, a Honduran charged on March 9, 2023, with indecent assault, masked armed robbery, and assault to rape, had been deported three times (2007, 2008, 2009) before re-entering the country illegally under the Biden administration. ICE issued a detainer request on December 20, 2022, but the Middlesex Superior Court released him on December 4, 2024, with no bail and on his own recognizance, ignoring the request. ICE finally apprehended him on January 22, 2025.

While Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has claimed that her state is “not a sanctuary state,” she has leaned on a 2017 state supreme court decision to justify not honoring ICE detainer requests. According to that ruling, Lunn v. Commonwealth, “Massachusetts law provides no authority for court officers to arrest and hold an individual because of a federal immigration detainer.”

Though no uniform definition exists, sanctuary cities are those that refuse to work with ICE in removing illegal immigrants, even if they are serious offenders. A 2017 report by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center tallied 39 cities and 364 counties with such limits.

These jurisdictions offer illegal aliens driver’s licenses, economic subsidies, and in some cases even local voting rights. “Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals,” Trump border czar Tom Homan declared on Fox News last November, vowing, “If they don’t help us, get out of the way because we’re coming.”

One city that has openly declared itself a sanctuary for illegal aliens is Boston, where Mayor Michelle Wu has been a particularly vocal supporter of efforts to thwart federal immigration authorities. Boston’s 2014 Trust Act bars police from assisting ICE without a judicial warrant.

“You belong here… Boston doesn’t back down,” Wu said recently following criticism over her refusal to work with ICE. Wu was one of several blue-city mayors who testified before the House Oversight Committee on their cities’ sanctuary policies earlier this year, where she reiterated her refusal to work with ICE even to deport heinous criminals like child sex predators.

Wu isn’t the only Boston official who has worked to undermine deportation efforts. Michael Cox, the city’s Democrat-appointed Police Commissioner, has also promised resistance to the Trump administration, saying that his officers “don’t have authority to enforce federal immigration law.”

However, despite these efforts to protect criminal illegal aliens, ICE has reportedly identified and arrested at least 370 illegal aliens in the Boston area, most of whom had significant criminal records – making good on Homan’s promise issued at CPAC earlier this year.

“I read a story last night, the police commissioner of Boston, you said you’d double down on not helping the law enforcement officers of ICE,” Homan said at the time. “I’m coming to Boston. I’m bringing hell with me. I looked at the numbers this morning; I stopped counting at nine. Nine child rapists that were in jail in Massachusetts, but rather than honoring an ICE detainer, they were released back into the street. You’re not a police commissioner; take that badge off your chest, put it in the desk drawer.”

According to Homan, at least four of those arrested near Boston were wanted for murder.

In the 50 days following Trump’s inauguration, ICE arrested 33,242 illegal immigrants. According to Department of Homeland Security data, 75 percent (24,091) of these individuals had criminal records, including thousands of convictions for drug trafficking and murder.

ICE data from July 2024 also shows more than 662,000 noncitizens on its docket had criminal histories, including 435,719 who had been convicted of a crime. Yet sanctuary jurisdictions declined or ignored 23,591 detainer requests from 2020–2024, repeatedly releasing convicted felons back onto American streets.

Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.