Illegal Immigrant with Notice to Appear Charged with Rape, Released by Sanctuary City

A recent case out of Massachusetts illustrates how the Biden administration’s negligent open border policies and local sanctuary laws mingle to endanger the American public. It involves a Haitian national who entered the United States illegally at the end of 2022 through the port of entry in Brownsville, Texas. Instead of getting deported, the migrant was issued a notice to appear (NTA) before an immigration judge like hundreds of thousands of others in the last few years. Months later the 31-year-old man was arrested by Boston Police for rape and indecent assault and battery on a developmentally disabled person. Boston is a sanctuary city that protects illegal immigrants from deportation by, among other things, banning cooperation with federal authorities, even when it comes to violent criminals. Seven other cities in Massachusetts have implemented the same outrageous policy.

In this case the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division in Boston’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office tried to detain the illegal immigrant to deport him, but local authorities refused to turn him over. The Dorchester District Court did not honor ICE’s detainer request and instead set the accused Haitian rapist free with a monitoring device pending a trial for his sexual assault charges. “Disturbingly and despite our filing an immigration detainer, this individual was released back into the community by the criminal court,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons in a statement. “The men and women of ERO Boston continue to protect the community from those who pose a real public safety threat to our communities. We remain strongly committed to protecting residents in communities by apprehending those who are not lawfully present in this country and pose a threat to public safety. This remains central piece of our mission.”

Federal authorities fulfilled their duty by launching an investigation when they became aware through various sources of the Haitian migrant’s criminal arrest and unlawful immigration status. When the county court refused to honor the immigration detainer, ERO tracked the alien suspect down and arrested him earlier this month in Dorchester, a neighborhood proudly identified by city officials as Boston’s most diverse. “Long-time residents mingle together with new immigrants from Vietnam, Cape Verde, Ireland, and many other countries,” according to the city’s website. “This wonderful mix of residents from all cultures and backgrounds makes it an incredibly vibrant place to live, work, and spend time.” Curious to know how the diverse residents feel about releasing a violent criminal into their quaint neighborhood. Thanks to ICE’s due diligence he will remain in federal custody pending an upcoming hearing before an immigration judge and the agency will seek his removal from the U.S. once the state criminal case is resolved.

It is important to note that this is hardly an isolated case. There is a national crisis generated by local governments around the country that protect even the most violent illegal immigrant offenders by refusing to honor ICE detainers under a partnership known as 287(g) that notifies the federal agency of inmates in the country illegally so that they can be deported. Under sanctuary measures, a growing number of city and county law enforcement agencies are instead releasing the illegal aliens—many with serious convictions such as child sex offenses, rape, and murder—rather than turn them over to federal authorities for removal. The problem is so bad that a few years ago ICE resorted to launching a billboard campaign seeking the public’s help in capturing alien felons released by various sanctuary law enforcement agencies in just one state.

Judicial Watch has reported on the crisis extensively over the years, documenting outrageous examples that include elected law enforcement officials freeing child sex offenders, major counties releasing numerous violent convicts and a state—North Carolina—that discharged nearly 500 illegal immigrant criminals from custody in less than a year. The dangerous trend has forced ICE to come up with creative ways—such as the billboard campaign—to apprehend the offenders and deport them. In one busy region the agency publicly disclosed the convicts, complete with mug shots, scheduled to be released before they were actually let go by police that proudly offer illegal aliens sanctuary. The initiative targeted six offenders incarcerated in two Maryland counties—Montgomery and Prince George’s—notorious for shielding illegal immigrants from the feds. Most were incarcerated for sexual crimes involving children, including rape and serious physical abuse that resulted in death. A couple of the convicts were in jail for murder and assault.