ICE operation apprehends 370 in Mass., including four in Central Mass.
Photo I Courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
ICE has apprehended at least four individuals in Central Massachusetts during its targeted operation in March.
Federal immigration and law enforcement officials conducted a six-day "enhanced targeted enforcement operation focusing on transnational organized crime, gangs, and egregious illegal alien offenders" in Massachusetts over the last week, announcing Monday the apprehension of 370 individuals.
At least four of the individuals were from Central Massachusetts, according to a Monday press release the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding what the federal agency is referring to as an enhanced targeted operation.
Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston, a law enforcement directorate within ICE, said 205 of the people arrested during the March 18-23 focus on Massachusetts "had significant criminal convictions or charges," including six foreign fugitives currently facing charges or convictions for murder, drug trafficking, organized crime, and money laundering.
Federal officials said they also seized 44 kilograms of methamphetamine, five kilograms of fentanyl, just more than one kilogram of cocaine, three firearms and ammunition from "illegal alien offenders."
"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," ERO Boston Field Office Acting Director Patricia Hyde said in the press release. "Throughout this enhanced enforcement operation, we targeted the most dangerous alien offenders in some of the most crime-infested neighborhoods in and around Boston."
Of those apprehended, one individual was from Worcester, one from Milford, and two from Marlborough.
The press release did not further elaborate on the 165 individuals apprehended who did not have criminal charges brought against them. The Boston Globe reported on Monday that one of the individuals arrested was a father from El Salvador with a work permit, no known criminal record, and a pending asylum case. He is being held in a detention center in Plymouth.
The individual arrested in Worcester is from Brazil, who is 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, according to the release.
In Milford, a Brazilian man was apprehended who ICE states is wanted in the country for murder and convicted for firearms trafficking.
The two people apprehended in Marlborough include an individual from Chile with four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old, and a man from Brazil who is wanted in the South American country for not serving a sentence after his convictions for homicide and illegal possession of a firearm.
Other individuals arrested in the operation included those from Boston, Salem, Lowell, Medford, Dorchester, Wakefield, New Bedford, Pittsfield, and West Yarmouth.
President Donald Trump won the 2024 election running on a promise to ramp up the deportation of people in the country illegally, particularly violent offenders.
Trump border czar Tom Homan, who promised to bring "hell" to Boston as he called out Mayor Michelle Wu earlier this year, said Monday he visited Boston at the start of the sweep last Tuesday. The FBI on Monday shared photos of the command center it established to support the federal immigration enforcement effort, including pictures from Homan's visit.
Homan and the Trump Administration have said Massachusetts and Boston specifically have "sanctuary" policies whereby they refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement authorities.
Activists have been unsuccessful for years in convincing Massachusetts state lawmakers to explicitly end agreements that give state and local law enforcement the authority to carry out some federal immigration duties. Boston officials say the city's policy that generally prohibits police from engaging in deportation efforts is in line with Supreme Judicial Court rulings and promotes greater overall public safety.
State House News Service contributed to this article.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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