U.S. Attorney fires back on contempt charge for ICE officer

US Attorney Leah Foley, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, blasted Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden and a judge who held an ICE agent in contempt, as tensions continue to mount after a man was detained by ICE mid-trial last week. 

Judge Mark Summerville held ICE agent Brian Sullivan in contempt Monday for allegedly obstructing justice. This stemmed from the arrest of Wilson Martell-Lebron, who was facing two felony charges from 2020 for allegedly filing a false application for a driver’s license. Martell-Lebron was detained by ICE after his trial in Boston Municipal Court had already begun. 

Foley filed a motion Wednesday to vacate the order of contempt. 

“Our motion is clear: the state court lacked authority to issue the unlawful and erroneous order. The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution immunizes federal officers from state prosecution — including contempt proceedings — for actions taken in the course of their official duties,” she said in a statement. 

The actions of ICE agents provoked Hayden, whose office was prosecuting Martell-Lebron. He convened a press conference Wednesday to denounce the mid-trial detention of Martell-Lebron and to broadly criticize recent ICE operations. 

Hayden called the arrest of Martell-Lebron “unacceptable and unprofessional,” adding that ICE is actively undermining public safety and his office’s ability to pursue justice. 

“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. 

He described how ICE enforcement operations in and around Boston recently have created a “chilling effect”: some witnesses are now reluctant to cooperate with investigators and some victims are refusing to provide information about crimes against them “due to fear of ICE.”

Hayden also said there was a possibility he could seek criminal contempt charges against federal officers for arresting Martell-Lebron. 

Foley sent a strongly-worded letter to Hayden after the press conference, saying that he had no legal basis for such an action and that even suggesting such a thing was inappropriate.  

“Any attempt or threat to interfere with the lawful actions of federal government agents will not be tolerated,” Foley wrote. “Rather than attacking the brave men and women enforcing the laws of the United States, I urge you to work with us to identify, prosecute, and remove the criminals who break them.”

Foley warned Hayden that his office “lacks any authority whatsoever to proceed in the state court” with respect to Sullivan’s arrest of Martell-Lebron. Hayden’s office must not entertain or pursue any charges against Sullivan or any other federal official relating to his arrest, she wrote. 

“We received the US Attorney’s letter. As made clear by DA Hayden, we do not want to see the historic crime reduction trends in Boston jeopardized by ICE actions that discourage victims and witnesses from cooperating against criminal offenders,” James Borghesani, a spokesperson for Hayden, said in a statement when reached for comment Thursday. 

When she was appointed by President Trump in February, Foley said that her office would investigate and arrest anyone, including local officials, who obstruct ICE operations.

Federal officials say that the name Wilson Martell-Lebron is an alias being used by Juan Carlos Baez, a Dominican national who entered the US illegally in 2000. They cited “prior drug trafficking convictions” when explaining his arrest. 

Martell-Lebron was found guilty of two counts of trafficking cocaine and one count of trafficking heroin in Middlesex Superior Court in 2009. He served prison time and was released in 2020, according to court records. 

Martell-Lebron’s attorney has accused prosecutors in Hayden’s office of knowing that ICE would be detaining him mid-trial. Hayden’s office said in court that they were aware of ICE’s general interest in Martell-Lebron, but had no knowledge that ICE agents would seek to arrest him during the trial. Hayden insists that his office did everything possible to attempt to return Martell-Lebron to court so that he can stand trial for the alleged false driver’s license applications. But Summerville has permanently dismissed the case against Martell-Lebron due to prosecutorial misconduct. 

Hayden said that the move to detain Martell-Lebron mid-trial was unprecedented, the equivalent of “ICE trampling on our criminal legal system.”

Federal officials carrying out their duties are not obliged to consider state criminal law before acting, Foley argued in court documents. 

Hayden called the agency’s recent actions in and around Boston “deeply troubling.” Boston is the “safest major city” in the country, Hayden said, citing historic lows in gun violence and homicides. He attributed this to cooperation between residents and law enforcement, arguing that trust between the two sides is a boon to public safety. 

But ICE actions under the new Trump administration are destroying that trust, he said. In a highly-publicized operation, agents arrested more than 370 people in Massachusetts last month. 

The federal government is also targeting international students who are allegedly linked to pro-Palestine protests. Rümeysa Öztürk, a PhD student at Tufts University, was arrested by ICE agents on a Somerville sidewalk last week. Her visa was revoked and she was flown to a detention center in Louisiana before her family or her lawyers could challenge her detention or get in touch with her. 

Video of masked, plainclothes agents surrounding Öztürk and taking her into an unmarked vehicle spread widely online. Tufts officials called for her release this week and echoed Hayden’s concerns about ICE stoking fear in the community. 

“Many report being fearful of leaving their homes, even to attend and teach classes on campus,” Tufts administrators said.