BOSTON (AP) - Attorneys have filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Bristol County Sheriff of unlawfully detaining an immigrant for nearly three weeks.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice and Latham & Watkins LLP on behalf of Moises Rivas, who was jailed on charges stemming from a domestic dispute.
The lawsuit says officials refused to release Rivas when his family tried to bail him out because was wanted by immigration authorities.
The complaint says that violated a state Supreme Court ruling that says authorities can’t hold immigrants solely based on the request of federal officials.
Sheriff Thomas Hodgson called the allegations “completely false” and “unethical.” He says Rivas was not held at the request of immigration officials and no one at the sheriff’s office ever said Rivas couldn’t be released because of immigration paperwork.
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