BOSTON — Twelve of the 14 sheriffs in Massachusetts, 10 of which are Democrats, have sent a letter to Gov. Maura Healey, urging her to address public safety concerns they say have stemmed from the recently signed Protect Act and its restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its operations. The Protect Act, signed into law by Healey on Aug. 5, prohibits civil immigration arrests ...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue speaks about the State Trooper contract outside the State House in Boston.

Nancy Lane/Boston Herald/TNS

BOSTON — Twelve of the 14 sheriffs in Massachusetts, 10 of which are Democrats, have sent a letter to Gov. Maura Healey, urging her to address public safety concerns they say have stemmed from the recently signed Protect Act and its restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its operations.

The Protect Act, signed into law by Healey on Aug. 5, prohibits civil immigration arrests without a judicial warrant at schools, courthouses, childcare centers and medical facilities, among other state owned property, among other things.

“During the implementation of the PROTECT Act, the Massachusetts Sheriffs have identified an issue concerning notifications upon release. The statute prevents advance notice to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, except when an individual is released after completing a sentence for a felony that constitutes a violent crime,” the letter, dated Oct. 22, says. “This exception does not apply to pretrial detainees.”

The sheriffs’ letter was highlighted by Healey’s challenger, Republican candidate for Massachusetts governor Mike Minogue, who was flanked by several police union leaders during a press conference outside the State House Tuesday morning.

“When individuals are charged with serious violent crimes and can be released without advanced notification to federal authorities, we need to examine whether the law is putting public safety at risk. This should not be a bipartisan issue. This is an issue of people’s safety,” Minogue told reporters. “Governor Healy and state lawmakers need to listen to our sheriffs.”

Healey responded to the letter, as well as Minogue’s comments, following a press event of her own in Weymouth, saying she is “proud” to have signed the Protect Act into law.

“ICE is a rogue agency. I mean, you’ve got a lot of people working for ICE now who are untrained, they’re really unfit for the position, and they’re out there in our communities and you see the damage that they’re doing,” Healey said when asked by the Herald if the sheriffs’ letter lends any credibility to the law needing to be reviewed.

“And let me be really clear, Mike Minogue supports Donald Trump’s ICE. Mike Minogue will repeal the Protect act. I will do everything I can do to keep our communities and our residents safe. And that includes standing up to ICE and their tactics that are just causing such harm to families, to our small businesses who’ve lost so much business,” she continued. “Mike Minogue is with Donald Trump and Donald Trump’s ICE teams and ICE agenda, and I’m going to stand with the people of Massachusetts and protect public safety.”

The Herald has reported extensively on reoffending criminal illegal immigrants that were released by Massachusetts authorities that ignored ICE detainer requests.

One recent example is Panamanian illegal immigrant Armando Rogelio Deleon, 74, who initiated a police chase on a traffic-snarled Bourne Bridge during Independence Day weekend. He had been arrested several times prior on a flurry of alleged crimes, including drug possession, driving with a suspended license, assault on a police officer and more.

He had been released from custody repeatedly by Massachusetts judges, who did not notify ICE.

The sheriffs provided several of their own examples, including detainees with violent charges including murder, rape, kidnapping, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and class A drug trafficking. A total of 14 detainees, they say, had bail set at $1,000 or lower for those violent charges. They say bail was set between $500 and $1,000 for those arrested on charges of kidnapping and assault and battery on a household member.

One pretrial detainee in Worcester County is even wanted by Interpol for murder in the Dominican Republic. The sheriffs say his bail was set at $500.

“If federal authorities do not receive notice while an individual remains in custody, they may instead seek to locate that person in the community. This can create avoidable risks for the public, law-enforcement personnel, families and others who may be present during those encounters,” the sheriffs said in the letter.

A total of ten Democratic sheriffs signed the letter to Healey, including Berkshire County Sheriff Thomas Bowler, Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux, Dukes County Sheriff Robert Ogden, Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger, Franklin County Sheriff Lori Streeter, Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi, Hampshire County Sheriffs Patrick Cahillane, Nantucket County Sheriff James Perelman, Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott, and Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins.

Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald and Worcester County Sheriff William Evangilidis made up the two Republicans to sign the letter.

“I just want to make sure that everyone understands how significant [it is] and how much courage was shown by the sheriffs of the Commonwealth. A letter, again, is signed by 12 of our 14 sheriffs and 10 of those 12 are Democrats,” Minogue said. “Talk to them. This is what I’ve been saying on the campaign trail. This is radical. It does not keep our people safe.”

McDonald spoke alongside Minogue at the State House steps, saying that he feels while the Protect Act was well-intentioned, its setbacks are ever apparent.

“What it does is it takes away, perhaps, what is the strongest and best tool that we have to fight crime and keep the public safe, and that is communication,” McDonald said.

“An individual could be subject to an orderly transfer of custody without going into the community, is now going to be released into the community to disappear to God knows where,” he continued. “To force those ICE officers to go out into the community, and we’ve seen it so many times, to face protestors and inadvertently innocent people can oftentimes get hurt, what we’ve done here is not simply enabled that scenario to occur, we have essentially required that scenario.”

Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley and Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, both Democrats, did not sign the letter.

The Herald has requested comment from Sheriffs Buckley and Koutoujian.

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