Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux is limiting the information and cooperation his office provides to federal immigration agencies.
While in recent years the sheriff’s office has voluntarily provided information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, under a new policy, staff will only provide information they are legally required to share.
ICE touts cooperation with local law enforcement to pick up immigration targets at local jails as a “Jail Enforcement Model.” Under Thomas Hodgson, Heroux’s predecessor, the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office had what’s known as a 287(g) contract with ICE, which allows for local officers to perform immigration enforcement duties, until it was cancelled in 2021.
Heroux recently criticized ICE and the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on social media. He cited the federal government’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics in Minneapolis as a key motivator for this policy change, saying he wants “to be on the right side of history.”
“Working with ICE is a liability. And DHS (Department of Homeland Security) has shown (itself]) to not be a good law enforcement partner,” Heroux said in a recent interview. “ICE has a legitimate law enforcement function, but they are not carrying it out in a legitimate way.”
Heroux said the BCSO will be “staying in our lane.” That means he wants officers to remain focused on addressing the needs of the inmates with state sentences rather than on actively assisting ICE with immigration enforcement.
Under the new policy, sheriff staff will direct ICE to file a public records request for information, such as immigration details on inmates of interest they’re searching for. And deputies should not hold inmates longer than legally required in order to alert ICE to their presence.
“We’ll do our job. They do their job. We’re not going to cross paths with them,” Heroux said.
In November, Heroux settled a $10 million civil lawsuit against the department over alleged mistreatment of immigration detainees. The department had to defend itself in the suit, filed in 2022, even though it was acting on behalf of the federal government. BCSO settled the suit for $800,000.
Heroux said he adopted this new policy in November 2025, though he sent out a public announcement this week. He acknowledged that the policy change may not be popular with all Bristol County residents.
“Some voters or taxpayers probably want me to cooperate with ICE,” Heroux said. “Again, I’m not going to oppose ICE. I’m just not going to do anything I’m not legally required to.”
Heroux also stated that no inmates held by the BSCO were released to ICE during January 2026.
