Federal authorities said the Boston Police Department refused to act on 198 immigration detainer requests last year, far exceeding the 15 reported by BPD’s commissioner, while blasting the city for jeopardizing “public safety and national security.”

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued the detainers to the city’s police department to request the custody transfer of 198 individuals ICE “had probable cause to believe were removable non-citizens” after they had been arrested by BPD on charges that involved “egregious criminal activity,” ICE spokesperson Yolanda Choates said in a Wednesday statement to the Herald.

“None of these ICE detainers were honored,” Choates said.

The criminal charges included armed robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a police officer, possession of a firearm, possession of a large capacity weapon, assault to murder, distribution of fentanyl, trafficking of heroin, indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and trafficking over 200 grams of cocaine, per the feds’ statement.

“Laws forcing municipal and state employees to ignore ICE requests for assistance do not protect the law-abiding community members,” Choates said. “The decision not to cooperate with ICE jeopardizes public safety and national security by thwarting ICE custody in a safe and secure environment.

“Instead, non-cooperation laws allow suspected and convicted felons, with no legal basis to remain in the United States, to integrate into our communities where (Enforcement Removal Operations) officers must then track them and attempt a public apprehension,” she added.

Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, in a letter to the city clerk filed this week with the City Council, said the department had received, and refused to act on 15 civil detainer requests in 2024 while citing a city law that shields noncitizens from deportation under certain circumstances.

Cox said the 15 requests were “not acted upon per the Boston Trust Act,” which was enacted in 2014, enshrines the city’s sanctuary status, and prohibits BPD and other city departments from cooperating with ICE when it comes to detaining immigrants on civil warrants.

“The Boston Police Department remains committed to complying with the Boston Trust Act and to building and strengthening relationships and trust with all our communities,” Cox wrote. “Boston’s immigrant communities should feel safe in reporting crime and quality of life issues to the department and in proactively engaging with all members of the Boston Police Department.”

Todd Lyons, a top national official for ICE/ERO, said it is “very disheartening when a local jurisdiction or agency takes a victory lap for not cooperating with ICE.”

“Based on the numerous cases, arrests and stories from ERO Boston, ICE has stayed focused on our priorities of public safety and national security threats,” Lyons said in a statement to the Herald. “Anyone that ICE issues a detainer for is not a victim or witness. They are someone who has come to the attention of law enforcement because of egregious crime.

“Not honoring an ICE detainer only allows public safety threats back into our neighborhoods,” Lyons added.

Neither the Boston Police Department nor Mayor Wu’s office responded to a Herald inquiry as to the discrepancy in immigration detainer requests and why the BPD and city was not complying with requests involving criminal charges.

City Councilor Ed Flynn, who is considering a bid for mayor, said he is calling for an “independent investigation into what happened and if inaccurate data was intentionally provided to the City Council.”

“When someone commits a crime, regardless of immigration status, we can’t stand in the way of justice for a victim of crime or respect for the rule of law and society,” Flynn said in a statement to the Herald. “We can’t play politics with the safety and security of the people.”

Boston officials, including some councilors who spoke before the City Council unanimously voted last month to reaffirm the Trust Act, have maintained that the policy still allows for cooperation with ICE in criminal matters like human trafficking, child exploitation, drug and weapons trafficking and cybercrime.

The “egregious” criminal charges cited by ICE as it relates to the agency’s 2024 detainer requests present a stark contrast to assertions made by Boston officials as it relates to when city police and departments are allowed, or intend, to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

“The Boston Police Department would like the public to believe that they have the sanctuary policy to protect illegal alien grandmothers on their way to church, when the reality is that ICE is is seeking to remove dangerous criminals from Boston, but they’re boarded from doing that by the Boston sanctuary policies, and this puts everyone at risk,” Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Herald.

“This destroys the narrative of the police commissioner and Mayor Wu that they want to protect public safety by having the sanctuary policy,” she said, adding, “That’s simply not the case.”

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A number of councilors spoke to what they saw as an innate sense of urgency to reaffirm the Trust Act, amid President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to carry out mass deportations when he takes office for the second time this month.

Mayor Michelle Wu cited the Trust Act when vowing that the city would continue to protect immigrants in “every possible way” under Trump’s mass deportation threat, and would not cooperate with efforts that threaten residents’ safety.

Wu’s comments were bashed by Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan, for what he saw as her vow to fight federal efforts to eradicate public safety threats.

“Either she helps us or she gets the hell out of the way, because we’re going to do it,” Homan told Newsmax.