ice memo boston herald
© The Boston Herald
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins is ordering her staff to be on the lookout for federal ICE agents in or around courthouses, telling them to "immediately notify" her if the feds are looking for illegal immigrants in court.

It's part of "The Rollins Memo" - a 65-page policy blueprint released Monday to staffers that also doubles down on her controversial no-prosecute list and details how she wants suspects, victims, cops and federal agents to be treated. Jail, she states throughout the memo, should not be the first option in many cases - not prosecuting certain crimes, she said, is a "default" position.

"I don't believe accountability has to equal incarceration. There are many ways we can hold people accountable without putting them in jail," Rollins writes, according to the policy paper obtained by the Herald and later made public by the DA Monday.

As for the county's "foreign-born population" when accused of crimes, Rollins' memo states her office "will begin to factor into all charging and sentencing decisions the potential of immigration consequences."

That includes taking into consideration any defense attorney's "failure to provide accurate advice" about a suspect's chances of being grabbed by federal immigration officers.


Comment: Plainly put, Rollins has directed the local police to assist illegal aliens in evading prosecution for their criminal presence in the country.


Rollins adds that if a DA's office employee "observes Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers" or Department of Homeland Security agents "apprehending or questioning" someone called to court about "residence status," they are to immediately alert her personally, her first assistant or general counsel.

"Local criminal matters always supersede federal civil matters," Rollins' memo states. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the memo's core is the list of "charges to be declined" - from trespassing to shoplifting, disturbing the peace, breaking and entering, threats, drug possession, resisting arrest to malicious destruction of property. Limiting bail and looking to help drug addicts instead of incarcerating them are also main themes. The no-prosecute list drew protests and concern from police when the Herald first reported it last fall. But last week, Rollins was criticized by the ACLU for failing to act on her promised reforms.

Rollins also stressed, in a section titled "Restoring Trust," that the county's 1,000 unsolved murders are an unjust "backlog" as are "all persons who may have been charged and convicted at higher rates due to poverty, race, religion, sex, gender, or identity."


Comment: Identity politics strikes again.


"This is a roadmap to a criminal justice system that works equally for everyone, based on research, data, and input from across the spectrum of stakeholders," Rollins said in a statement after the memo was released.

Her new office policy also states:
  • For bail, the "presumptive recommendation" will be personal recognizance, unless there is "clear evidence of flight risk."
  • A Discharge Integrity Team has been formed to review fatal police-involved shootings. The panel will meet "at least" monthly and with the DA.
  • Offering "treatment services rather than punishment" for those with mental illness or substance abuse. She called these steps a move to make up for the "catastrophically failed War on Drugs."
  • Taking into consideration "collateral consequences" of a criminal case - including being fired from a job, being listed on the Sex Offender Registry or being denied "admission to a school." The DA said her office is teaming up with Harvard University to map "some of the thousands of collateral consequences."
  • With pleas, "incarceration" should be a "last resort." Prosecutors should "work with defense counsel" to work out sentences with "incentives" included.
The DA, who took office this year promising change, said she will take this new policy to the public in a series of hearings starting Thursday at Hibernian Hall in Roxbury. That session is set for 6 p.m.
Joe Dwinell is the Herald's Investigative and Database Editor and a web writer. If you have a news tip, email joed@bostonherald.com or call 617-619-6493.