By MICHAEL CASEY

BOSTON (AP) — A judge in Boston is holding a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in contempt after he detained a suspect while the man was on trial.

Related Articles

Cornell student protester facing deportation leaves the US on his ‘own terms’ after losing faith

An ‘administrative error’ sent a Maryland man to an El Salvador prison, ICE says

Judge pauses Trump administration plans to end temporary legal protections for Venezuelans

US immigration officials look to expand social media data collection

Trump is stronger on immigration and weaker on trade, new poll finds

ICE agent Brian Sullivan detained Wilson Martell-Lebron last week as he was leaving court. But a Boston Municipal Court judge issued a ruling Monday against Sullivan, arguing that he had deprived Martell-Lebron of his rights to due process and a fair trial by taking him into custody.

“It’s a case of violating a defendant’s right to present at trial and confront witnesses against him,” Judge Mark Summerville said from the bench. “It couldn’t be more serious.”

Judge acts following arrest

Summerville dismissed the charge against Martell-Lebron of making false statements on his driver’s license application — namely that he wasn’t Martell-Lebron. After that, Summerville filed the contempt charge against Sullivan, which could lead Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden review the case to determine if any charges should be filed.

“It’s reprehensible,” Ryan Sullivan, one of Martell-Lebron’s lawyers said. “Law enforcement agents have a job to see justice is done. Prosecutors have a job to see justice is done. There is no greater injustice in my mind than the government arresting someone, without identifying themselves, and preventing them from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to a jury trial.”

A spokesman for ICE did not return a call seeking comment.

The move by ICE is the latest effort to target Boston over its handling of immigration.

President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan and Republicans in Congress have accused the city of failing to cooperate to get people charged with violent crimes deported. Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat up for reelection this year, said she wants Boston be a welcoming place for immigrants and that city policies limit cooperation with immigration enforcement.

Tense scene outside courthouse

Sullivan described a tense scene, in which ICE agents pounced on Martell-Lebron without identifying themselves, put him into a pickup truck and sped away. The trial Thursday had just begun with opening statements and the first witnesses.

Sullivan said Martell-Lebron, who is from the Dominican Republic and living with family in Massachusetts, is now at the Plymouth detention facility for allegedly being an undocumented immigrant, he said.

“What we were challenging is that they arrested him in the middle of his trial and did not return him,” he said. “If he had been brought to court on Friday morning by ICE, we would not have moved to dismiss. We would not be asking for sanctions. We would have just finished the trial.”

ICE can make arrest outside courthouses

Immigration officers were a growing presence at courthouses during Trump’s first term, prompting some pushback from judges and other local officials. Trump has gone further in his second term by repealing a policy in place since 2011 to generally avoid schools, places of worship and hospitals.

Under current policy, immigration officials can make arrests “in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present” and as long as they are not prohibited by state or local law.

During the two-day hearing, Sullivan said that the lead prosecution witnessed confirmed that both the Massachusetts State police and prosecutors were aware of ICE plans to arrest Martell-Lebron.

What did Massachusetts officials know about arrest?

In a statement, state police said they acted appropriately after learning of the plans of ICE. “As in any situation where a member becomes aware of federal immigration enforcement, the Troopers responded appropriately by neither assisting nor obstructing the federal action,” the statement said.

James Borghesani, a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said “we were dismayed and surprised when our prosecution of Wilson Martell-Lebron was interrupted by ICE apprehending him in the middle of his trial.”

“Any claim that we were aware of an attempt to prevent Mr Martell-Lebron from exercising his right to a trial is false.,” he said in a statement. “It was our intention to try Mr. Martell-Lebron and hold him accountable for the crimes alleged in the complaint. Federal authorities should not have detained him and interfered with our efforts to hold him accountable.”

The contempt case has been referred to the Suffolk district attorney’s office and a spokesman there said they were looking into it.

During Trump’s first term, the judicial system in the state wrestled with how to respond to ICE.

Two district attorneys in Massachusetts sued the federal government in 2019 seeking to prevent arrests at courthouses but dropped the case when former President Joe Biden took office.

Newton District Judge Shelley Joseph also faced charges – which were later dropped — of helping a man who was living in the U.S. illegally evade an immigration enforcement agent. The charges were dropped after she agreed to refer herself to a state agency that investigates allegations of misconduct by members of the bench.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL

The federal government has paused $27.5 million for organizations that provide family planning, contraception, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted infection services as it investigates whether they’re complying with the law.

Related Articles

Melania Trump says courage is ‘based in love’ as she honors women from around the world for bravery

Trump administration halts dozens of research grants at Princeton University

More Republicans want the US to focus on ceasefires in Ukraine and Gaza, new poll finds

Trump turns homelessness response away from housing, toward forced treatment

Trump to hold a meeting on possible investors to buy TikTok with possible ban at stake

The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association says 16 organizations received notice Monday that funding is on hold. At least 11 Planned Parenthood Federation of America regional affiliates and all recipients of federal family planning, or Title X, grants in seven states, had funding withheld.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declined to say which laws or executive orders the groups are being investigated for violating, though NFPFHA said some of the letters cited civil rights laws. Trump has issued executive orders targeting programs that consider race in any way, some of which have been put on hold by judges.

Health and Human Services, which is in the midst of deep layoffs, also said that “no final decisions on any spending changes for Planned Parenthood have been made.”

Republicans have long railed against the millions of dollars that flow every year to Planned Parenthood and its clinics, which offer abortions but also birth control, cancer and disease screenings, among other things. Federal law prohibits taxpayer dollars from paying for most abortions.

Providers said the impact on health care will especially hit lower-income people.

“We know what happens when health care providers cannot use Title X funding,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement. “People across the country suffer, cancers go undetected, access to birth control is severely reduced, and the nation’s STI crisis worsens.”

The reproductive health association, whose members include most Title X grant recipients, said that about one-fourth of them received the letter, including all the recipients in California, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and Utah. Mississippi law bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

George Hill, president and CEO of Maine Family Planning, which provides abortion services, said that if necessary his organization would go to court to seek the funds.

“The Administration’s dangerous decision to withhold Maine Family Planning’s Title X funds jeopardizes access to critical health care services for thousands of Mainers. Any delay in disbursement of federal grants will have a detrimental effect on our state family planning network and the patients we serve,” Hill said.

The Missouri Family Health Council, which pays for programs throughout Missouri and part of Oklahoma, including Planned Parenthood affiliates, also had its funding blocked.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which includes Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas, said regional clinics remain committed to providing health care despite the funding uncertainty.

“They want to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers to appease their anti-abortion backers, and they’re willing to take away birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment to get their way,” Great Plains Planned Parenthood President and CEO Emily Wales said in a statement. “If blocking health care for low-income patients is what the Trump administration means by ‘making America great again,’ then we want no part of it.”

Associated Press reporters Summer Ballentine and Amanda Seitz contributed to this article.

Supporters of the Housing Access Voucher Program say it’s needed now more than ever to curb rising homelessness, and as another federal rent subsidy is expected to run out of funding next year. But Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet to embrace the initiative.

Tenant organizers with the Housing Justice for All Coalition rallying at the Capitol building in Albany on March 19, 2024. They’re once again pushing for the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) to make it into this year’s budget. Photo by Chris Janaro.

It’s rare for New York’s tenant and landlord groups to agree on housing policy. But for the sixth legislative session in a row in Albany, they’ve coalesced around at least one proposal: a state-funded voucher that would help people experiencing or at risk of homelessness afford rent.

Lawmakers have introduced a bill to establish the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) each year since 2020, but it’s yet to make it into law, despite broad support. Sponsored by State Sen. Brian Kavanagh and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, the vouchers would function similarly to federal Section 8 subsidies, with tenants paying up to 30 percent of their income toward rent and HAVP covering the rest.

New Yorkers would be eligible if they’re unhoused or “facing imminent loss of housing,” as long as they earn less than 50 percent of the Area Median Income, equivalent to $77,650 for a four-person household in New York City, regardless of their immigration status.

Supporters say the vouchers would help combat rising rents and a surging statewide homeless population, which more than doubled over the last two years. In the city alone, more than 130,000 people were staying in the shelter system as of January, according to data tracked by City Limits.

“New York’s housing crisis demands bold, immediate action,” Ellen Davidson, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society said in a statement last month supporting the bill. “With homelessness rising at an alarming rate, we cannot afford to wait.”

Both the Senate and the Assembly included $250 million for HAVP in their budget proposals this year (the state budget was due April 1, but negotiations are currently in overtime). Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet embrace the proposal, however, and previously cited concerns about costs. Speaking to reporters last month, she said her focus was on building new housing to bring rents down, according to NY1.

But the bill’s supporters say housing more residents with vouchers will be cheaper in the long run than keeping them in homeless shelters.

“Direct rental assistance is a proven cost-effective method of ensuring people can stay in their homes and access new ones if so preferred,” the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), a group representing property owners and development, said in testimony to the State Legislature in February.

“We have support from the landlords, so that’s unique. We’re in a unique position. I don’t understand why the governor doesn’t see it,” said Althea Matthews, a leader with the advocacy group VOCAL-NY’s Homeless Union.

Matthews, 67, spent three years in the shelter system herself, and says she was only able to move out through with the help of similar rental subsidy. She was one of thousands of New Yorkers to get an emergency voucher funded by the federal COVID-19 stimulus bill in 2022, which allowed her to rent an apartment that year where she lives currently.

The Trump administration last week announced that funding for those vouchers is expected to run out in 2026, four years sooner than expected, putting tenants like Matthews at potential risk of homelessness again.

Passing HAVP could help plug that gap, Matthews argues. “We need to have the HAVP passed now,” she said. “The time is now, because it’s going to get worse.”

A rep for the governor’s office did not respond directly to questions about Hochul’s current HAVP stance, but said budget talks are ongoing.

“Governor Hochul continues to negotiate in good faith with the Senate and Assembly to pass a budget that makes New York safer and more affordable,” a spokesperson said.

To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Tenant & Landlord Groups Both Support a Proposed State Housing Voucher. Why Hasn’t it Passed? appeared first on City Limits.

A 17-year-old is charged with multiple felonies after deputies carried out a search warrant last week and found eight firearms in his bedroom in St. Paul and another gun in a bag he was carrying, according to a court document filed Tuesday.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office Gun Unit had a warrant for the home in the 900 block of Burr Street in Payne-Phalen to look for illegal firearms and related items. They executed the warrant about 11:15 a.m. Friday.

“Deputies surveilled the house until the primary suspect came outside and jumped into a parked car,” according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office. “That’s when they nabbed him. With the element of surprise on their side, they swooped in and arrested the 17-year-old so he couldn’t get access to the weapons.”

The teen was wearing a cross-body bag and an investigator found a Glock handgun inside with an extended magazine, laser sight and auto-sear device/switch, according to a juvenile petition filed by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. The switch converts a firearm into “a fully automatic machine gun” and investigators later test fired the gun and confirmed it was functioning as such, the petition said.

During the search of the teen’s bedroom, investigators found seven additional handguns and a short-barrel rifle, which had no serial number, the petition said. They also located a bullet-resistant garment, a gym bag with three empty magazines inside, a firearm receipt, ammunition and an auto sear not installed on a firearm.

The teen talked to investigators, “acknowledged possession of the found firearms and boasted about his ‘collection,’” according to the petition.

Teen remains in custody

The petition filed in Ramsey County District Court charges him with possession of a machine gun and of a firearm without a serial number. He is also charged with nine counts of possession of a firearm by a person under age 18. The county attorney’s office will seek to have the teen tried in adult court, the petition states.

The teen turns 18 soon, so “this was a couple weeks away from being a totally different case,” Ramsey County Judge Jacob Kraus said at his court appearance Tuesday.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney George Joyer requested the teen stay in custody, saying the machine gun charge is “a very serious offense,” in addition “to the high volume of other weapons and additional accessories” found.

Multiple surveillance video displays are seen on a monitor inside a home where the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office carried out a search warrant Friday. There were high-end surveillance cameras outside of the home, according to the sheriff’s office. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

The house had high-end surveillance equipment, the sheriff’s office post said.

The teen’s attorney, Ellen Seesel, said he requested to go home with his mother on electronic monitoring and “strict house arrest” because he wanted to go back to school. He’s due to graduate in a week or two, and the teen’s father told Seesel that he’s starting a program soon that means a lot to him.

Kraus decided the teen will remain at the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center. “I have significant public safety concerns about what they found, the amount of things they found, and the type of things that they found,” the judge said.

Previous gun case

Related Articles

Trial of driver who killed teen cyclist Magnus White opens in Colorado

Federal prosecutors to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing

Man dies after he’s found stabbed outside St. Paul residence

Sheriff: Parents won’t be charged after son, 3, fatally shot himself in December

‘Your daughter’s life is more than any jail time,’ judge tells St. Paul woman whose 1-year-old died after ingesting fentanyl

The teen had another gun case just over a year ago. The Pioneer Press is not naming him because of his age and because the current case is still in juvenile court.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged him in February 2024 with threats of violence. He was at the Wilder Recreation Center in St. Paul that month when someone saw him and another juvenile playing dice, and told them they needed to leave the building. The person said the juvenile, who was later identified as the teen in the current case, told him, “What are you going to do about it?” and pulled out a pistol, according to the juvenile petition in that case.

He was found guilty of a felony, ordered to complete 24 hours of community service and was on supervised probation until December. The case was then dismissed because he met conditions, the court docket shows.