Only hours after Boston’s top prosecutor criticized federal immigration officials on Wednesday as “extraordinarily reckless” for detaining a man mid-trial last week, the U.S. Department of Justice responded in a series of remarkable letters and court filings.
U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts Leah Foley issued a strongly worded letter to a Boston judge who found an immigration agent in contempt of court on Monday.
“While you may disagree with the enforcement of our federal immigration laws, there is simply no legal basis for you to hold federal officers in criminal contempt for carrying out their sworn duties,” Foley wrote. “Any attempt or threat to interfere with the lawful functions of federal government agents will not be tolerated.”
Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Summerville addresses the court room, while holding an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in contempt after he detained a suspect while he was on trial, Monday, March 31, 2025, in Boston. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP)AP
Foley, whose office operates under the U.S. Justice Department, also said that federal officials moved to vacate the order of contempt entered against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent by the Boston Municipal Court.
Earlier on Wednesday, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden described the situation as unprecedented when ICE apprehended a man in the middle of a trial on charges of falsifying RMV records.
Hayden said his office was investigating ICE agent Brian Sullivan after Judge Mark Summerville found him in contempt of court for interfering with the trial.
“We have a lot to go over in this case before we can determine exactly how it is we’re going to proceed,” he said.
In a separate letter addressed to Hayden, Foley strongly disagreed and called on him to “cease from entertaining or pursuing any charges” against the ICE officer or any other federal official.
“The fact that you disfavor ICE officers doing their jobs is not a basis for criminal charges,” Foley wrote to the district attorney. She said there is “no legal basis for such charges.”
“Rather than attacking the brave men and women enforcing laws of the United States, I urge you to work with us to identify, prosecute, and remove the criminals who break them,” Foley wrote.
Wilson Martell-Lebron, the 49-year-old man who was detained, had been at the Edward W. Brooke courthouse on Thursday for his first day of trial on falsifying RMV records, when he was taken by plainclothes ICE agents outside the courthouse.
Martell-Lebron is a citizen of the Dominican Republic who entered the country illegally and has no lawful status, according to a court filing by the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE officials first found a basis to remove him in October 2007, the filing states.
Foley said that he is in the country illegally, had prior arrests for serious drug trafficking offenses and was arrested pursuant to a valid federal warrant.
Court filings described how federal agents detained Martell-Lebron on Thursday. Sullivan, the ICE agent, was summonsed for the trial to testify and once the day’s proceedings ended, agents grabbed Martell-Lebron after he left the courthouse through a back exit.
Martell-Lebron “took a couple quick steps in the opposite direction before officers were able to seize him and make the arrest.”
This family photo provided by attorney’s shows Wilson Martell-Lebron. (Family photo/Erkan & Sullivan, PC via AP)AP
Foley said Wednesday that Sullivan and ICE’s actions were carried out lawfully.
“Our motion is clear: the state court lacked authority to issue the unlawful and erroneous order,” Foley wrote.
She cited the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution that immunizes federal officers from state prosecution for actions taken in the course of their official duties.
At the press conference on Wednesday, Hayden criticized ICE’s operations not only with Martell-Lebron, but across the city — and revealed the alarming effect the public’s fear has had on Boston courtrooms.
“ICE routinely claims that their actions are improving public safety in Boston, and I’m here today to tell you and to say that they are doing the exact opposite,” Hayden said.
“We’re now finding witnesses reluctant to cooperate with investigators, due to fear of ICE … We are seeing victims refuse to provide information about crimes against them, due to fear of ICE,” Hayden said.
Summerville, the Boston judge, said he found ICE agent Sullivan in contempt of the court after he committed “intentional and egregious violations of the defendant’s rights” by not allowing due process and a fair trial. Summerville referred the case to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office for an investigation.
On Monday, the judge also dismissed Martell-Lebron’s RMV case due to prosecutorial misconduct.
