Cambridge Police Commissioner Elow Confirms ICE Arrest in Cambridge

Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine A. Elow confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement have arrested at least one individual in the city, but made it clear at Monday’s City Council meeting that the department will not assist ICE agents.

As one of Massachusetts’ eight sanctuary cities, Cambridge does not compel its police officers to assist ICE agents as they deport and detain undocumented immigrants. The city first voted to adopt the designation in 1985 — reaffirming its status in 2006, 2016, and 2020.

But despite Cambridge’s sanctuary city status, Elow said ICE agents have repeatedly solicited support from CPD. She highlighted an incident from “a couple of weeks ago,” where ICE arrested an individual outside of the Cambridge Police Station.

“ICE called and asked if they were still in custody, and we said, ‘we don’t cooperate with ICE,’” Elow said. “They waited outside of our police station, and when the person was released on bail, they picked them up.”

“So ICE is very active,” she added.

The news of this arrest comes as cities across Massachusetts are seeing a rise in deportations and ICE activity. The ICE arrest of a woman in Worcester earlier this month drew attention from across the state after onlookers protested the detainment. ICE also detained several teenagers in Chelsea. And just a few minutes from Cambridge, federal officials mistakenly detained an American citizen outside a courthouse in Medford on Friday.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Elow’s Monday night statements.

While Elow affirmed that CPD did not cooperate with ICE, councilors continued to raise concerns about whether the department would comply with federal agents in the future. But City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 made it clear that Cambridge’s city ordinances prohibit such collaboration.

“Our ordinance, similar to Worcester, notes no officer or employee of the Cambridge Police Department may participate in an operation led by a federal agency to detain persons for deportation purposes,” he said.

Elow said that there have been multiple instances where ICE asked CPD for information, and CPD has not complied.

“We’ve had at least four ICE detainer requests, and we have not honored them,” she said.

Megan Bayer, the Cambridge city solicitor, said that while CPD cannot stop ICE officers from detaining individuals, the department will take action if individuals attempt to impersonate ICE officers.

“If there were a situation where the police were called to respond and it was someone impersonating a federal agent, I think the police would be able to handle that,” she said.

But she added that if ICE officials have probable cause, the department is unable to take action to stop the detention.

“I don’t think Cambridge Police Department has the legal jurisdiction to interfere with a federal agency’s law enforcement or immigration enforcement operations,” Bayer said.

As the city grapples with increased ICE presence, Huang emphasized that Cambridge would push back against the Trump administration’s efforts to deport locals

“Our community is living in a state of fear and uncertainty,” Huang said. “We, as a welcoming community, do not support or defend this federal administration’s policies on immigration enforcement.”

—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at shawn.boehmer@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.