Carmen Ortiz 72114

United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz speaks to reporters outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Boston.

(Steven Senne / Associated Press File Photo)

BOSTON - Carmen Ortiz, who recently stepped down as the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, on Thursday defended law enforcement officials' actions during her tenure and voiced concerns about the current national climate amid President Donald Trump's immigration policies.



The first woman and first Hispanic to serve as US Attorney in Massachusetts, Ortiz took part in a panel on media, free speech and the war on terror at Roxbury Community College.



"These are difficult times and not just for the Muslim community," she said, adding that Hispanics in the US are "living in fear" that they could get "corralled" and put into a detention center.



Asked to elaborate on her remarks after appearing on the panel, Ortiz said, "Between the executive order and some of the policies that are being issued, like the more recent policy by the Department of Homeland Security as to how they're going to carry out the laws that have been on the books for years but have been carried out in a certain ways, and there's always discretion in how you carry out the laws, I think there are many communities that are afraid right now and concerned about what the future holds, in terms of the immigration policies, in terms of the ban of individuals whether they're refugees, immigrants, or others from different countries, and I think that that concern, it's valid, to see how things will play out."

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Are the Trump administration's proposals constitutional? Ortiz said she hasn't seen the latest version and she'll "leave it to the courts to decide that."



"Even if it's constitutional on its face, still the way that it's carried out and the policy itself can have a certain negative impact, so that should be considered as well," she said.



President Obama appointed Ortiz as the US attorney in 2009 and she stepped down in January 2017, allowing President Trump to appoint his own US attorney for Massachusetts.



Her office prosecuted former Massachusetts House Speaker Sal DiMasi, Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger and the Boston Marathon bomber.

During Thursday night's panel, Ortiz sometimes caught herself using the word "we" when talking about government officials. "I keep saying 'we' - I'm not in law enforcement anymore," she said.



Afterwards, she told MassLive.com she isn't interested in entering the political arena.



"I have no interest in running," she said. "I'm not planning to and I have no interest in running."



The Roxbury Community College panel, moderated by journalist Bill Marcus, included the ACLU's Rahsaan Hall and Shannon Al-Wakeel, executive director of the Muslim Justice League.

"We are living in dangerous times," Ortiz said in discussion about what is and isn't protected speech. Speech that threatens, incites a crowd or another individual, and recruits individuals to commit criminal acts does not fall under protected speech, she said.



Law enforcement officials monitor social media to identify child predators and gather evidence, like rap songs that identify who someone wants to hurt or kill, according to Ortiz. "The same thing with terrorism. They're going to look in social media to see what is being stated."



Sting operations are sometimes set up to determine whether social media chatter is "just talk or is it more serious than that," she said.



Ortiz pointed to the case of one of the Tsarnaev brothers, who was on the FBI's radar two years before they set off the bombs at the Boston Marathon. The FBI investigated him but didn't find sufficient evidence to keep up surveillance, she said. "And yet they got criticized for that."

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Ortiz also defended the prosecution of Tarek Mehanna, a Sudbury man convicted by a jury in 2011 of providing material support to Al Qaeda, the terrorist group. Critics said the prosecution violated his free speech rights.



He traveled to Yemen and translated documents that were used as recruiting tools, Ortiz said.



"He was convicted of these offenses," she said, adding that the conviction was upheld by an appeals court. "He lied to the FBI."



"There is no question there are bad players in law enforcement," she added, acknowledging remarks by other panelists about distrust of law enforcement officials in some communities.



"But I think it's important to build a dialogue so folks have a certain relationship with law enforcement that can lead to a better relationship," Ortiz said.