Cofield et al v. McDonald et al.

Brought in partnership with Lawyers for Civil Rights, Rights Behind Bars acts as counsel in this novel litigation seeking to invalidate Plymouth County Sheriff's Office's 287(g) agreement—a contract with the Department of Homeland Security purportedly authorizing local sheriffs to engage in immigration enforcement activities. The challenged 287(g) agreement presents two clear legal problems under Massachusetts law. First, the agreement was entered into ultra vires, because there is nothing in the state constitution, statute, or common law that grants Massachusetts sheriffs the power to enter into such agreements as state actors. Second, the authority purportedly granted to state officers to enforce federal civil immigration law violates Massachusetts common law decided in Lunn v. Commonwealth, which held that state officers do not have the power to conduct civil immigration arrests absent statutory authority.

Read the petition for declaratory and injunctive relief here.