Recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations to detain undocumented immigrants across the country, including in Boston, have renewed in Massachusetts the debate over what are known as ICE detainers.

A pair of state legislators have filed a bill that would give local law enforcement the power to hold undocumented immigrants for up to 36 hours beyond their standard release from custody, saying it would reduce the likelihood of ICE operations in communities and the arrests happen at prisons and courts instead.

State Rep. Michael Soter, R-Bellingham, a co-sponsor of the bill, said it would take away a lot of the “visual and the fear of” ICE operations, while only apply to “criminals that are here illegally.”

In 2017, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that local and state law enforcement cannot hold a person to comply with ICE requests — legal precedent Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott referred to after ICE complained that his office ignored a 2023 request to hold a Haitian national whom they arrested in Boston last week.

“We cannot violate a person’s due process by holding them beyond their legally stipulated term of confinement. We comply fully, within our authority. We remain willing to communicate with ICE and we appreciate the work of all law enforcement to keep our communities safe,” McDermott said in a statement, noting that his office had notified ICE about the man, but no one had picked him up.

As President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda takes shape, many in Massachusetts are concerned about the future while others are applauding the changes.

Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis supports the ICE detainer bill.

“As sheriff I raised my right hand and took the oath of office to protect my community and I think this is a tool I would like to have to help protect my community,” he said.

Evangelidis said he’s seen ICE detainer requests spike in the last three years, with the influx of migrant families to Massachusetts.

“We’ve noticed that our detainers that have been launched here have tripled from say 2021 to last year, so I thought this problem is getting more acute and I’m starting to see more and more people walk out. So I thought, ‘Do we need to close this loophole?’” he said.

But attorney Leah Hastings, at Prisoner’s Legal Services of Massachusetts, said local law enforcement already communicates with ICE and does not need to help further, as “another arm of ICE, doing the work of ICE for ICE while being paid by Massachusetts taxpayers.”

We’re going to the experts to answer common questions about immigration.

Hastings noted that those released from custody by judges are deemed safe enough to do so, as happens for everyone processed by the criminal justice system.

“It isn’t a question of whether they pose any danger to the community, it’s only a question of whether ICE is able to deport them,” she said.

NBC10 Boston reached out to Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrae Joy Campbell to ask for comment on the proposal.