Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins insists his decision to sever ties with Immigration and Customs Enforcement had nothing to do with protests, and everything to do whether the people in his jail’s cells are destined to remain in the state.                   

“I was hired to do local, not federal, work. The ICE population is transient — they’re not staying here,” Tompkins said on CommonWealth’s Codcast. “But the ladies we’re going to service, they either live in my county or the Commonwealth. They’re staying here. They have kids. They have families. We want them to go back home in better shape than they arrived.”

For over 16 years, the Suffolk County sheriff’s office had a contract with ICE to place detained immigrants in beds at the South Bay House of Correction. The arrangement has stirred protests ever since President Trump came into office with his strong stance against immigrants in this country illegally. Eighteen Jewish activists were arrested at a rally this summer.

Tompkins announced two weeks ago he was ending his contract with ICE and will use the newly available space to bring in women detainees who other counties were planning to send to the state women’s prison in Framingham.