Boston immigration officials are blasting Somerville, a sanctuary city, for not honoring an ICE detainer on a Turkish national accused of assault and battery against a person with an intellectual disability.

Berkan Karamurtlu, 27, was grabbed by in Somerville by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston and now faces deportation.

ICE said in a statement Wednesday that “Somerville District Court … ignored the detainer and released Karamurtlu from custody.” The illegal immigrant was arraigned in late December for assault and battery on an intellectually disabled person and witness intimidation.

“This is a tragic example of what can go wrong when local jurisdictions refuse to honor immigration detainers,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde.

“The local jurisdiction ignored our detainer and released Berkan Karamurtlu into the community,” Hyde added. “Unfortunately, he re-offended resulting in a second arrest for assaulting an intellectually disabled resident. Fortunately, the local authorities honored our second detainer and Karamurtlu is now in ICE custody. ICE Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by apprehending and removing egregious alien offenders.”

The Herald has reached out to the Middlesex DA’s office for comment.

The Somerville City Council reaffirmed its commitment as a sanctuary city in November, as previously reported by the Herald. 

“The City of Somerville has a proud, longstanding history of welcoming and supporting generations of immigrants,” reads the resolution that Somerville city councilors approved, “and has continually upheld values of equity, inclusion, and support for all community members.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this month that she would freeze DOJ funding for sanctuary cities. The DOJ plans to “pursue enforcement actions” against cities that get in the way of federal immigration crackdown efforts, according to her memo.

ICE reports that Karamurtlu “violated the terms of his lawful admission” after arriving in the U.S. at  John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in October of 2021. They do not say how he arrived in Somerville and was charged in Medford.

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