Scores of Caribbean nationals were among the 370 illegal immigrants apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal law enforcement partners during a six-day targeted enforcement operation in Massachusetts from March 18-23.
The operation focused on transnational organized crime, gangs, and criminal offenders, removing a significant number of individuals with serious charges from the streets.
“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,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “Throughout this enhanced enforcement operation, we targeted the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in and around Boston.”
Among those arrested, individuals were from the Caribbean, including Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and other nations, many of whom had prior criminal convictions or outstanding charges. Additionally, multiple individuals from Brazil were apprehended, with some wanted for serious crimes in their home country, including homicide, firearms trafficking, and drug offenses.
Authorities noted that 205 of those arrested had significant criminal convictions or charges. Six were foreign fugitives currently facing charges or convictions for murder, drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering. Some of the most serious offenders who were Latin American or Caribbean nationals included:
- A Dominican national who illegally re-entered the U.S. after removal, charged with multiple drug distribution crimes, arrested in Boston.
- A Dominican national who illegally re-entered the U.S. after removal, charged with trafficking fentanyl, arrested in Boston.
- A Brazilian national 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 national who illegally re-entered the U.S. after removal, 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.
- A Brazilian national wanted for murder and convicted of firearms trafficking in his native country, arrested in Milford.
- A Brazilian national wanted for homicide in his home country, arrested in Lowell.
- A Dominican national wanted for homicide in his native country, arrested in Dorchester.
- A Brazilian national wanted in his native country for failure to serve a sentence after his convictions for homicide and illegal possession of a firearm, arrested in Marlborough.
- A Salvadoran national previously deported from the U.S. and documented 18th Street gang member convicted of assault and battery and sentenced to two and a half years, arrested in Wakefield.
- A Guatemalan national charged with rape and convicted of enticing a minor under the age of 16, released by the New Bedford District Court without the ICE detainer being honored, arrested in New Bedford.
- A Jamaican national previously deported from the U.S. convicted of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, armed robbery, possession of a firearm, and assault arrested in Pittsfield.
- A Brazilian national wanted in his native country for drug trafficking, money laundering, membership in a criminal organization, arrested in West Yarmouth.
Since January, there has been an increase in the number of Caribbean nationals being nabbed by ICE, as the U.S. government cracks down on illegal immigrants in the country.
Partner law enforcement agencies involved in the Massachusetts operation included the FBI, DEA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, and DSS, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. Federal officials emphasized their continued commitment to removing individuals engaged in criminal activities and making communities safer.
