The Essex County Sheriff’s Department has released a statement describing a press release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Boston as “erroneous.”
The press release covers the apprehension by both Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston, which is ICE’s field office in the region, and Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger’s department of a 33-year-old “unlawfully present Guatemalan national” in Lynn.
The man was arrested on March 28 and charged with a myriad of crimes, including sex crimes against minors.
“The release stated that the Essex County Sheriff’s Department refused to honor an immigration detainer for this individual and released him from custody,” the department wrote in the statement. “This is simply untrue.”
According to the statement, the sheriff’s department received a detainer for the individual on Nov. 8, 2023, while he was being held on state charges.
Per the department’s protocols, the detainer was delivered to Lynn District Court along with the individual for a January court date. The detainer was signed for by court officials and acknowledged, according to the statement.
The statement added that the individual was released from court and never returned to the custody of the Essex County Sheriff’s Department.
“We value our law-enforcement partners working together to keep our communities safe, but the information that we provide to our citizens must be clear and correct,” the statement reads.
The press release from ICE has since been updated “to correct a reporting error.”
“In this case, the Essex County Correctional Facility was erroneously reported to have refused the ICE detainer when in fact it was the Massachusetts Court System,” the correction reads.
It is unclear when the correction was made.
