Smiley criticizes ICE detainment at Providence courthouse, maintains city policy won’t change

Matt Couture,

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Providence Mayor Brett Smiley called Thursday’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention of a teenage intern at the Providence Superior Court “the latest outrageous and cruel action” of the Trump administration, and rejected the notion that a change in city policy relative to immigration enforcement would stop ICE from showing up at courthouses.

Smiley was the latest state Democrat to sharply criticize ICE for agents’ actions Thursday.

A spokesperson for the state court system said ICE agents detained a high school student who is an intern at the Superior Court.

In a statement Friday, Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos said Judge Joseph McBurney intervened on the intern’s behalf.

The spokesperson for the state courts said ICE agents then confirmed the intern was not the person they were looking for and released him.

“Here’s a young man doing what we aspire our students to do,” Smiley said in an interview with ABC6 News Friday. “He’s got an internship at the judiciary, and then to be wrongfully detained — the effect that that’s gonna have on that young man’s life now having been traumatized like that; I wish that that were a one off. The reality is that there are cruel actions taking place in our city regularly now, more than weekly, sometimes daily. I’m outraged by that but I’m outraged by so many other similar actions.”

Smiley said he believes one solution to limiting ICE interactions at courthouses is to increase the availability of virtual hearings.

The idea received some support from Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Suttell after Thursday’s incident in Providence.

Suttell said in a statement that the Judiciary would focus on ways to enhance access to virtual hearings.

“The sad fact that we all assume, because we don’t have any coordination, is that ICE sees it as a more convenient way because they know someone’s going to have to show up for court, so that’s where they are laying in wait,” Smiley said.

This month, Smiley signed an updated city ordinance that regulates interactions between the Providence Police Department and ICE.

The ordinance, passed by the Providence City Council on Nov. 6, prevents Providence police officers from assisting operations “for the purpose of enforcing federal civil immigration law unless presented with a judicial warrant.”

Asked whether additional cooperation between ICE and city officials could lessen the chance of a future incident like the Thursday detainment of the Superior Court intern, Smiley said he sees no reason to make a change.

“There’s no reason that the City of Providence or the state police should change their policy with respect to cooperation with ICE,” Smiley said. “Under this [Trump] administration and the approach that they have taken, cooperation can only lead to more heartbreak, and more families separated, and more people who are active members of our community that are just trying to make a better life for themselves to be removed and ripped away from their family.”

The Rhode Island State Police policy, while different from Providence’s city ordinance, states that troopers “are not authorized to stop, arrest, and/or take an individual into custody based solely on an ICE detainer or on actual or suspected immigration status.”

The state Department of Corrections relies on a 2014 order and does not hold a person in custody based on an ICE detainer alone, but rather requires a judicial warrant.

That order followed a federal court decision.

ABC6 News contacted ICE’s public affairs office on Thursday to ask for comment on the detainment of the Superior Court intern and did not receive a response. A similar follow-up inquiry on Friday did not receive a response as of the publication of this article.

Categories: News, Politics, Providence, Rhode Island

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