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NEW BEDFORD — In response to an uptick in immigration activity and “some community pushback,” Police Chief Jason Thody has issued interim guidance on how the department’s officers should interact with and respond to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers when they’re in the city.
“One of the main topics right now is immigration enforcement,” Thody said. “The question was, what do we do as the New Bedford Police Department? What’s the direction to the troops on what we do [during] ICE operations?”
‣ Coming tomorrow: How county sheriffs interact with ICE
Among the guidelines, the three-page document states officers must activate their body cameras when responding, and must “fully document” each incident by noting key aspects: whether NBPD was notified by ICE before the operation, what officers observed on scene, and whether any arrests occurred.
It’s a stopgap measure until the department publishes a formal policy, which it is developing with city attorneys.
The guidance addresses how police should interact with protesters who may be on scene or nearby during an ICE operation. It affirms that protesters are allowed to voice their opinion and film (activities protected by the First Amendment), but states New Bedford police must “restore order” if demonstrators interfere with law enforcement operations, block vehicles, create safety hazards, or turn violent.
“Officers should prioritize the safety of everyone involved, including agents, protesters, and bystanders, while balancing lawful order with the public’s right to observe and speak,” it says.
When responding, NBPD will send a supervisor and at least two officers. The supervisors would then be expected to verify the agents are with ICE. If federal agents do not provide that information, Thody said the department will document that, too.
Thody issued the guidance to all police personnel on Sept. 21 and published a public facing FAQ on the police website on Sept. 24.
Chief says ICE has rarely communicated with NB police
The transparency on the Police Department’s end comes amid a lack of transparency from ICE, according to local elected officials — and Thody.
Communication has been inconsistent and the department doesn’t hear much from the federal agency, Thody said. Most of the time, police learn of immigration arrests through the news or social media.
Between July and October, Thody saw one or two calls from ICE to the department’s communications division to inform them that federal agents would be in the city that day. Since July, The Light has confirmed at least 17 ICE arrests in the city. Most arrestees are originally from Guatemala.
Across Massachusetts, ICE has targeted Guatemalans. They rank second, after Brazilians, in the most arrests by country of origin from January through July in the state, according to ICE data.
“It is frustrating to not be able to have conversations that could put our community and our officers in a safer place,” said Thody, who spoke with The Light before and after the guidance was published. “There are a lot of ways I think we could be helpful to both sides without enforcing immigration laws and getting involved.”
Thody said he contacted ICE Boston Field Office Acting Director Patricia Hyde in hopes of having a conversation. He has not heard back.
“We know that they’re going to do what they’re going to do… I can’t control that. But is there a way we can — not work together — but we could create a situation that’s safe for our residents and put our immigrant population at ease,” Thody said, “whether that’s running interference or using deconfliction training.”
Communication with ICE could enhance public safety, Thody argues. Citing the window-smashing incident involving Juan Francisco Méndez in New Bedford in April, Thody said New Bedford police could assist in de-escalating similar situations. They can also offer language skills if ICE officers cannot effectively communicate with the person.
The department employs a K’iche’-speaking officer, as well as those who speak Spanish. The guidance notes this, stating officers can provide “translation services.”
But New Bedford officers may not be able to do that if they are not informed of where and when ICE agents will be operating in the city.
Ondine Gálvez Sniffin, Méndez’s attorney, challenged Thody on this in July when, just after starting the job as chief, he spoke before the immigrant community during a gathering at Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, where Méndez was in attendance.
Gálvez Sniffin said that when New Bedford police officers responded to the scene after Méndez was taken, they told her that “they would not get involved, they would not interfere, in an enforcement action.”
“How are they going to de-escalate the situation?” she asked Thody.
Thody said there is no perfect answer: ”I don’t know that we will be able to help in every situation.”
Still, it’s worth trying, he said.
Critics react
Adrian Ventura, executive director of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, said the police guidance may well backfire.
“Now, the people are worried that the police are working with Immigration,” he said. “I don’t know anymore if they are protecting the feds or the community.”
The Light has confirmed that ICE has taken nearly 60 immigrants into custody in the New Bedford area since the start of the current presidential administration.
Thody has acknowledged that some members of the city’s Guatemalan community are fearful.
“My philosophy is still not to cooperate with them in their enforcement. I think it is important to know them and have a working relationship with them so that we can be present to help protect our residents,” Thody told a full room at the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores event in July.
New Bedford is not the first or the only police department in Massachusetts to put guidance about ICE interactions in writing. Framingham issued guidance in 2017 and Natick in 2024. Most recently, Georgetown, a town of about 8,000 people in the North Shore, and Easthampton, in Hampshire County, issued their own documents in May and June respectively.
Peter Mancina, a cultural anthropologist and visiting scholar at Rutgers Law School, said local police can exercise discretion in how they cooperate with federal agents.
“There are legitimate public safety concerns and reasons” for police to respond to an operation, Mancina said.
“Nonetheless, it makes it easier for ICE to arrest the person,” he continued. “De-escalation makes people more safe, but it affords ICE a more efficient immigration event, and one that saves their face. They don’t have to look like the aggressors.”
Amy Grunder, director of state government affairs at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), said she viewed the transparency around Thody’s guidance as a good thing on the whole.
“Some police departments, especially those in immigrant communities, have worked really hard to earn the trust of immigrant residents and are seeing that work undermined by aggressive ICE enforcement,” she said.
Nonetheless, Grunder does have questions about the Police Department’s guidance, particularly about the portions where it emphasizes protecting ICE agents.
“It is concerning, because it does kind of give credence to the idea that ICE agents are at risk from the public,” she said.
“It’s a needless addition that sends a bad message,” added Grunder, “especially given the well documented brutality of these enforcement actions against targeted immigrants and bystanders, including journalists.”
From Thody’s perspective, though, officers on the force will have some expectations and guidance they can refer to, which they didn’t before.
“The important takeaway is that the New Bedford Police Department is not taking a political position on this,” he said. “We don’t pick and choose who to keep safe.”
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org, Kevin G. Andrade at kandrade@newbedfordlight.org, and Eleonora Bianchi at ebianchi@newbedfordlight.org.
Nice. A police chief who doesn’t want to enforce the law against illegal aliens (not immigrants, Immigrants apply for admission into our country not force their way in and are more than welcome.) Criminals (illegal aliens) are not welcome. When will Americans learn that we have LAWS for a reason?
That isn’t at all what the police chief said. But, your rhetoric is really just to fan outrage, isn’t it?
“We don’t pick and choose who to keep safe.” But when people have their cars broken in to while they wait for their lawyer to arrive to check for a legitimate warrant (which doesn’t exist) the Police do nothing. It’s clear that they do, in fact, choose who to keep safe.
“The supervisors would then be expected to verify the agents are with ICE. If federal agents do not provide that information, Thody said the department will document that, too.“
Am I the only one that has a problem with this?
People wearing ICE uniforms, not willing to say, for the record, to police officers, that they are with ICE.
If the purported ICE agents are not willing to verify that they are, in fact, ICE agents, then as far as I’m concerned, they should be treated as a gang, criminally impersonating Police or Federal agents. Felons engaged in a kidnapping. They should be treated as such.
I am as much of a hawk on immigration as anyone. I have no trust in the media’s coverage of all this. I saw personally the violent protests the media called “mostly peaceful”.
I cannot see the sense in this. Don’t feed the media’s narrative.
I would like to share some of the most troubling issues, as I see it.
Exactly how do the New Bedford (or any other police department) police verify that these “agents” are really members of ICE?
(Most of them do not conduct themselves professionally.)
Are they allowed to ask for a verifiable ID, or do they just take the “agent’s” word that they are ICE?
If a police officer witnesses the use of excessive force by a fellow officer, he/she is allowed to intervene because they understand that that behavior denies the detainee
their constitutionally-protected rights.
How does that change simply because they represent different law-enforcement agencies?
Our law enforcement personnel undergo a rigorous training that includes having a thorough understanding of the law. They are taught and have specialized training in the deescalation of potentially dangerous situations. How are they supposed to act when it is the other “agents” themselves who are escalating the situation?
The fact that ICE has not returned the police chief’s calls, seldom given advanced notice of impending ICE actions within our city demonstrates their unwillingness to cooperate, and their lack of respect for local law enforcement.
We are obligated to provide our police officers with clear guidelines that do not violate the basic tenets of their professional training. It is unconscionable to place the men and women of the NBPD who do their job and follow the law in the unethical position of having to chose between what they know is wrong and how they are expected to act in situations beyond their control.
Bringing someone from out of town that tells us his philosophy is not to cooperate with the inforcement of federal law is unacceptable. This Mayor’s appointment for chief of police was a bad move not to mention illegal. There was no consideration to appoint an officer from our city’s police department that resides in New Bedford and has a vested interest in the welfare and safety of our community. SHAMEFUL.
There was consideration.
The mayor hired a Chief with 28 years of LEO experience, 5 years of experience as the Chief of city 10 times larger than New Bedford.
He has not had significant controversies in his career.
He is a proponent of body worn cameras.
By name, which existing NPD Officers have that level of credentials.
SHAMEFUL TO HAVE TO GO THAT LOW.
How is the Chief appointment law case going?
When will the Chief be removed?
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Albertus Magnus College, a Graduate Certificate in Police Executive Leadership Development from the University of Louisville, and a Master’s Degree in Public Safety from the University of Virginia. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the Southern Police Institute’s Administrative Officers Course, the Senior Management Institute for Police, and FBI-LEEDA’s Executive Leadership Institute.
What NBPD officer has that level of qualifications?
New Bedford hates education though Albert. This Chief is over qualified for New Bedford.
“My philosophy is still not to cooperate with them in their enforcement. I think it is important to know them and have a working relationship with them so that we can be present to help protect our residents,” Thody told a full room…”
The policy is “NOT to cooperate” with ICE, but they want ICE to cooperate with them.
Please, make this make any sense whatsoever.
These are ALL law enforcement agents and agencies and the citizens of New Bedford expect them to conduct themselves as such – protecting the citizens of New Bedford and themselves against any and all crime. Whether it be unlawful presence in our city or physical assault against law officers.
Unbelievable. Local law enforcement should be instructed to 100% to enforce the law (and co operate with ICE, or any other federal agencies). Local law enforcement agencies should be notifying ICE when they encounter/arrest/detain a person who is in country illegally. To provide instructions or guidance for law enforcement to do anything else, is tyrrany.
“My philosophy is still not to cooperate with them in their enforcement”. That is taking a political position Thody. Do you tell your officers to not cooperate with a DEA or FBI operation too? ICE is a Law Enforcement entity, as is the NBPD, and your telling your officers to not cooperate with them, it doesn’t get any more political than that . Off to a great start Chief.
ICE are newly hired, poorly trained, masked thugs.
Our Police Chief is not.
He is FBI trained.
imagine what a circus Bristol County would be if Hodgson were still sheriff with his detention center. We avoided so much by being true to the American experiment and Christian spirit
With every issue there are people that agree and other people that don’t agree. After years of scandals in the New Bedford Police Department, it’s amazing that a new hire would jump into the fire and get involved with this mess. More than ever we need change and new leadership in city hall.
Not just New Bedford, but the state of Massachusetts is too soft on crime. Yes, people have the right to protest, but not to interfere. Too often, the police I called to stand down. Too often, crime is overlooked, when it is blatantly viewed. Law enforcement officers put themselves in danger., Not only daily, but minute by minute, to protect and serve. they need to be protected too. They need to be respected for what they have to do. Politics should not interfere with the ability “to protect and serve“. This is wrong. Let them do their job; support them.
It would be interesting to know if ICE has picked up or is actively seeking out any members of the violent Latin Kings street gang or if they’re focused exclusively on “soft targets” like guys on painting crews and working at car washes.