ICE has made more than 30 arrests in recent months

At least 30 illegal immigrants have faced legal consequences for a range of crimes across Massachusetts in recent months, according to a Herald analysis of ICE news releases issued since early August.

The analysis came days after Patrick L. Lechleitner, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, released national data that shed light on what he called the country's “broken immigration system.”

In Massachusetts, Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston has issued approximately 30 press releases since August 1 regarding ICE arrests across the Commonwealth.

The illegal immigrants detained came predominantly from El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Ecuador and Mexico.

An illegal immigrant, Yao Zhang, was from China. The 43-year-old was arrested July 5 in Medford for alleged sex crimes against a Massachusetts resident.

The Herald analysis found that a majority of the alleged offenses had a sexual background, including aggravated rape, sexual assault and possession of child sexual abuse material.

The latest illegal immigrant taken into custody was Akim Marc Desire, an 18-year-old Haitian national charged with sexually assaulting a Massachusetts resident under the age of 14 in Mansfield.

On the other hand, the oldest resident is a 55-year-old Brazilian refugee wanted by authorities in his home country to serve a prison sentence resulting from a rape conviction in October 2023. The unnamed fugitive was arrested July 31 in Fall River.

ICE Boston agents arrested another unnamed Brazilian fugitive, 54, in Worcester on August 29 after Brazilian authorities issued a warrant for his arrest on August 13 in connection with murder charges in his home country.

“This Brazilian fugitive fled justice in his home country and attempted to hide in Massachusetts,” Todd M. Lyons, head of ERO’s Boston field office, said in a Sept. 10 news release. “We cannot allow our New England neighborhoods to become havens for international criminals seeking to escape the law.”

Nantucket served as a hotspot for the arrests when ICE Boston arrested five illegal immigrants earlier this month during a multi-day “targeted” operation on the island from Sept. 10 to 12.

Agents arrested Angel Deras-Mejia on September 12 and charged the 30-year-old documented MS-13 gang member from El Salvador with disorderly conduct and two counts of assault and battery on a household member.

The multi-day effort also included the arrest of Salvadoran citizen Elmer Sola, 49, on 11 suspected sex crimes, including aggravated rape of a child.

Other notable arrests:

Haitian national Gasnoy Saintilme, whose age is not specified, was charged Aug. 26 in Worcester with conspiracy to violate drug laws, drug distribution, drug manufacturing and illegally carrying a dangerous weapon.

Lyons of the ERO Boston Field Office praised the Worcester County Sheriff's Office for honoring an immigration detainee at Saintilme.

Warley Neto, an illegally present 24-year-old Brazilian citizen charged with five counts of rape of a minor from Massachusetts, was arrested Aug. 23 in Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard.

Neto entered the United States illegally in March 2018, after which the Border Patrol served him with a notice to appear before an immigration judge and released him from custody two days later.

Five years later, Edgartown police arrested Neto in February 2023 on charges of strangulation or suffocation, assault and battery on a family member, and threatening to commit a felony.

Edgartown District Court sentenced Neto to 364 days in jail, but suspended all but 90 days of the sentence.

Charges were subsequently filed in Dukes County Superior Court, where Neto was charged with five counts of rape of a child and five counts of enticement of a child under 16 years of age.

“We are grateful for the Dukes County Sheriff’s Office’s cooperation in prioritizing public safety and enabling Neto’s safe transfer of custody to ERO,” Lyons said in a Sept. 3 news release. “Too often, local jurisdictions refuse to honor immigration detainees and release dangerous offenders back into the community to reoffend.”

ERO Boston arrested Marc Kervens Beauvais in Peabody on August 13 and charged the 34-year-old Haitian national with aggravated rape, two counts of felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a pregnant victim, and attempted felony murder.

In Beauvais, alleged violations occurred at a refugee hotel monitored by the state's emergency assistance program, according to the state housing authority. He was terminated and removed from the program when “a member of his household reported a domestic violence incident.”

Another alleged refugee hotel crime has garnered national attention — the case against Cory Alvarez, a 26-year-old Haitian national accused of raping a 15-year-old girl at a Rockland refugee hotel in March.

According to that agency, Alvarez had been free on $500 bail after a Plymouth court failed to honor a federal immigration detainee before ICE arrested him on Aug. 13. He was also allegedly here as part of the Biden administration's CHNV program, the Plymouth district attorney's office told the Herald in August.

“He will have his day in court and ERO Boston will continue to work with the Massachusetts criminal justice system,” Lyons said of Alvarez in an Aug. 13 press release, “but we cannot allow non-citizens to pose a significant threat to the children of our communities.” insult again.”

In July, ERO Boston arrested Edilzar Morales-Barillas, a 35-year-old Guatemalan national, who was charged locally with operating under the influence of alcohol (fourth offense), possession of a Class B controlled substance, and false address stated to have attempted to obstruct police, and the engine's operation was revoked after operating under the influence.

Morales was previously deported from the United States and convicted locally of reckless endangerment of a child and drug distribution. He has three convictions for driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

Originally published: September 28, 2024 at 5:51 p.m