Federal immigration authorities appear to have stepped up arrests of illegal immigrant criminal suspects in Massachusetts in recent weeks.
A Brazilian citizen living in the United States illegally, and wanted in his home country for drug trafficking, was arrested by federal authorities in a Massachusetts sanctuary city near Boston.
The unidentified suspect was taken into custody on Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Somerville, which will be voting next week on a resolution to reaffirm its sanctuary status and would even provide taxpayer-funded legal services to illegal immigrants, while its police department commits to not cooperating with ICE in the detention of illegal migrants.
The Brazilian crossed into the U.S. through El Paso, Texas, in 2022 and was released into the country despite facing charges back home for drug trafficking.
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“This noncitizen is accused of serious crimes in Brazil,” said ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “Public safety is ERO Boston’s primary mission, and our officers are committed to removing potentially dangerous noncitizens from our streets.”
He was ordered deported in January, followed by a failed appeal, and a federal immigration judge gave him a final order of removal in June.
Also arrested in Massachusetts was a Dominican national who entered the U.S. illegally in July 2021. Belardis Tapia Gonzalez is charged with child molestation/sexual assault in Rhode Island. He was arrested just outside Boston in the city of Lynn on Monday.
A Salvadoran MS-13 gang member who entered the U.S. as a gotaway was convicted of assault in the state. ICE placed a detainer on him with Northampton District Court, but he was released into the community without federal immigration authorities being notified.
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He was eventually arrested in Northhampton.
State Democrats Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu have been heavily criticized following opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promise to conduct mass deportations of illegal immigrants once he returns to the Oval Office in January.
Healey vowed that her state police will “absolutely not” cooperate with the expected mass deportation effort by the incoming Trump administration, warning that she will use “every tool in the toolbox” to “protect” residents in the blue state.
In a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday, Healey’s office said, “As part of immigration enforcement, the Governor believes individuals who commit violent crimes like those alleged here should be deported.”
Wu also took a stance against Trump during an interview on Sunday, saying her city will not cooperate with the incoming administration’s looming mass deportation operation despite the region seeing a number of illegal immigrants with criminal charges getting released back onto the streets.
On Thursday, the MassGOP slammed Healey and Wu for putting politics over public safety amid the arrests of criminal illegal immigrants.
“It’s appalling and disgusting that the Governor of Massachusetts and the Mayor of Boston, the largest city in our state, are prioritizing appeasing the most radical elements of their political base over the safety of Massachusetts residents,” MassGOP chairwoman Amy Carnevale said in a news release. “Parents across the Commonwealth are horrified that individuals charged with such serious crimes are allowed to roam free because local authorities refuse to work with ICE to remove these criminals from our streets.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.
