DARTMOUTH — Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux released Jose Raul Martinez-Alvardo from custody after bail was posted, despite a detainer from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE Boston stated on X on July 2, 2026, that they arrested Martinez-Alvardo in New Bedford, Massachusetts, following his release.

Martinez-Alvardo, identified by ICE Boston as being from Honduras, faces pending charges including unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm, unlawful possession of a large capacity feeding device, resisting arrest, carrying a firearm without a license, and carrying a loaded firearm without a license. ICE Boston's X post indicated that the Bristol County House of Corrections released Martinez-Alvardo without honoring the ICE detainer.

Heroux characterized the release as a routine bail procedure. He issued a release stating that ICE Boston "made a partisan political statement and tried to pressure or intimidate me and my office to break state and federal law." Heroux clarified that ICE detainers are requests and not legal requirements, and he believes that honoring them without a 287(g) contract would violate state and federal law. "The fact that a 287(g) program exists that trains and deputizes local and state police and sheriffs to assist with immigration enforcement suggests that assistance in the absence of this contract would be unlawful," Heroux said.

Heroux cited a statement by U.S. Attorney Leah Foley to 14 Massachusetts Sheriffs on March 12, 2025: "You are bound by state law." The Bristol County Sheriff's Office previously held a 287(g) contract and a contract to house immigration detainees under former Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. The office lost its ICE contracts in 2021 after an investigation by former Attorney General Maura Healey's office into a disturbance at the ICE detention center in May 2020. The Department of Homeland Security ordered ICE to terminate its contract with the Sheriff's Office and transfer remaining detainees that year. In 2025, a $10 million lawsuit filed against the Bristol County Sheriff's Office by 16 immigrant detainees regarding the 2020 disturbance was settled for $800,000.

In Lunn v. Commonwealth (2017), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that local and state police are not permitted to hold individuals past their bail posting or court-set release date. Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arizona v. United States (2012) that state governments are not allowed to enforce federal immigration law.