Suffolk sheriff orders US agency to remove immigrant detainees from jail

In recent weeks, tensions have risen between the agencies over Suffolk’s push for more money for housing immigrant detainees, according to a copy of the letter written by Suffolk attorney James M. Davin.

Suffolk officials also were upset that a federal report faulting them for waiting too long to take a seriously ill detainee to the hospital was provided to the Globe before they received a copy. Pedro Tavarez, a Dominican national facing deportation, died at age 49.
The Globe had repeatedly requested a copy of the Tavarez report and received it when it was available to the public.

Cabral and her spokesman Peter Van Delft, did not respond to multiple telephone messages and e-mails requesting comment today. The sheriff has also been in the news in recent days because of the suicide Sunday of accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff in the Nashua Street Jail, which she also oversees.

In the letter, Davin wrote that ICE, the federal agency in charge of detaining and deporting immigrants, failed to provide the sheriff’s office with audit reports, resisted efforts to resolve detainees’ complaints, and failed to notify them that the investigation into Tavarez’s death had concluded.