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ICE Boston and federal law enforcement partners report that they took close to 400 “alien offenders” off the streets last week in a sweep border czar Tom Homan said pushes back at sanctuary cities.
The feds in Massachusetts arrested 370 “illegal aliens” from March 18 to 23 during an “enhanced operation” focusing on transnational organized crime and gangs, ICE Boston reported.
These organizations include the notorious MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Trinitarios, and 18th Street gangs.
“The Commonwealth is a safer place for our residents to live and work because ICE and our federal law enforcement partners arrested hundreds of alien offenders and removed them from the streets of Massachusetts,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston Acting Director Patricia Hyde said in a statement. “Throughout this enhanced enforcement operation, we targeted the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in and around Boston.
“Our efforts resulted in 370 arrests throughout the commonwealth,” Hyde added. “ICE and our federal law enforcement partners are committed to protecting the homeland through the eradication of transnational criminal organizations, dismantling dangerous criminal gangs preying on the American public, locating and arresting criminal alien offenders, and making our communities a safer place to live.”
Of the 370 people arrested, 205 had significant criminal convictions or charges, ICE Boston reported. Six were foreign fugitives currently facing charges or convictions for murder, drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering.
Homan, President Trump’s border czar who has been beefing with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and warned he was “bringing hell” to the Hub, said this operation “made the neighborhoods of Boston and Massachusetts much safer.”
The border czar called the offenders “animals.”
“I made a promise at CPAC that I was going to Boston after reading about numerous illegal alien child rapists walking the streets of Boston and Massachusetts,” Homan posted. “ICE had to find and arrest these illegal alien rapists because Massachusetts and Boston are sanctuaries that refuse to cooperate with ICE.
“They would rather release these animals back into the community rather than honor ICE detainers or notify ICE when they are scheduled to be released,” he added. “Mayor Wu later testified that I was lying. Well, I traveled to Boston last Tuesday, as promised, and we kicked off a five day operation with ICE, FBI, ATF, DEA, US Marshals and DSS.”
Homan added that Wu and Gov. Maura Healey “should be ashamed of supporting sanctuary policies.”
Healey in response said the Bay State is “not a sanctuary state,” and noted that Mass State Police was recently recognized by Trump and AG Pam Bondi at the White House for partnering with the feds and arresting two dozen members of a violent gang and fentanyl trafficking ring in Lawrence.
“As a former Attorney General and prosecutor, I spent years investigating, prosecuting and putting away violent criminals and drug traffickers,” Healey said in a statement. “Public safety is a major priority for me, and it should never be a partisan issue.”
“Massachusetts isn’t just doing this public safety work — we are a model for it,” the governor added. “We are ranked as one of the safest states in the country for a reason, and we are going to stay that way.”
Wu during her State of the City address last week vowed that Boston would continue to protect immigrants at a time when the city’s sanctuary policies are being probed by a congressional oversight committee.
“Boston is the safest major city in the country, and we partner with all levels of law enforcement to prevent crime and hold perpetrators accountable,” a city spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.
“Given that we have no information on these arrests, we cannot confirm how many took place within Boston police jurisdiction or in other cities, and we cannot confirm whether every individual was lawfully detained,” the spokesperson added. “We strongly urge ICE to release information on all the individuals detained in order to ensure transparency.”
Among those arrested during ICE’s enhanced targeted operation include: a Chilean convicted of four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old, arrested in Marlboro; a Brazilian charged with manslaughter, homicide by a motor vehicle, homicide while under the influence of liquor, breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a crime, and larceny, arrested in Worcester; a Honduran convicted of rape of a child, assault and battery of a person over 14 and failure to register as a sex offender, arrested in Salem; and a Brazilian wanted for homicide in his home country, arrested in Lowell.
“Everyone should agree that we cannot and will not tolerate individuals who not only violate our immigration laws but then commit crimes that endanger our communities,” said Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley. “Those who enter and remain in this country unlawfully are breaking the law.
“My office remains committed to working alongside our law enforcement partners to ensure that dangerous individuals are identified, prosecuted, and removed, so that the people of Massachusetts can live and work in safe and secure communities,” Foley added.
Law enforcement officials seized about 44 kilograms of methamphetamines, 5 kilograms of fentanyl, 1.2 kilograms of cocaine, three firearms and ammunition during the operation.
ICE and their federal law enforcement partners reported that they made many of the apprehensions after local jurisdictions refused to honor immigration detainer requests to turn over the offenders.
ICE Boston announced the arrests as the ACLU of Massachusetts put out a fundraising appeal about deportations. The American Civil Liberties Union in its email urged supporters to tell their state lawmakers to pass the “Dignity Not Deportations Act.”
“Right now, President Trump is abusing power at an unprecedented rate, wielding his deportation machine as a weapon against families who have done nothing more than come to the U.S. seeking a better life,” the ACLU wrote. “In doing so, Trump has already moved with unspeakable cruelty and threatened the rule of law itself.
“Massachusetts should take a stand against this lawlessness, and we certainly should not be doing ICE’s work for them,” the ACLU added. “Tell MA lawmakers: Protect our communities from Trump’s deportation agenda; Pass the Dignity Not Deportations Act to end ICE contracts in the Commonwealth!”
