BOSTON, CMC – The United States Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) agency says agents from its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), Boston. have apprehended an illegal Haitian national who was recently arrested by local police on charges of rape and indecent assault and battery on a developmentally disabled person in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
ICE said ERO Boston lodged an immigration detainer against the Haitian citizen, “but the Dorchester District Court chose not to honor it and released him from jail after his arrest on the sexual assault-related charges.”
“Disturbingly, and despite our filing an immigration detainer, this individual was released back into the community by the criminal court,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons.
“The men and women of ERO Boston continue to protect the community from those who pose a real public safety threat to our communities,” he added. “We remain strongly committed to protecting community residents by apprehending those who are not lawfully present in this country and pose a threat to public safety. This remains a central piece of our mission.”
ICE said that, in December 2022, the 31-year-old Haitian national arrived at the port of entry in Brownsville, Texas, where he was deemed inadmissible and issued a notice to appear before an immigration judge with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in Boston, Massachusetts.
In September 2023, ICE said Boston police arrested him for rape and indecent assault and battery on a developmentally disabled person.
Following his arrest, ICE said ERO Boston lodged an immigration detainer with the Dorchester District Court seeking his custody.
“The court did not honor the immigration detainer and the noncitizen was ultimately released from the jail in Boston, where he had been held since his arrest, with an electronic monitoring device \, pending the resolution of his criminal charges in a local criminal court,” ICE said.
After becoming aware of his recent arrest and unlawful immigration status, ICE said ERO Boston began an investigation to confirm the Haitian citizen’s presence is its area of responsibility.
Following confirmation of his presence, ICE said officers with ERO Boston arrested him without incident in Dorchester on January 9.
His charges remain pending with the local criminal court, and he will stay in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody pending an upcoming hearing before a DOJ immigration judge.
Following adjudication of his local criminal charges, ICE said ERO Boston will seek his removal from the United States.
ICE said ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with the DOJ’s EOIR. EOIR is a separate entity from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.
In fiscal year 2023, ICE said ERO made 170,590 administrative arrests, a 19.5 percent increase over the previous year.
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