A Brazilian migrant convicted of child rape reportedly lived at a daycare facility in the United States while evading justice from authorities in his native country, according to Boston 25 News.
Andre Tiago Lucas, a Brazilian national convicted of raping a 13-year-old child in his home country, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in late October, the agency previously confirmed at the time. He was convicted by a Brazilian court in December 2016 of rape of a vulnerable person and sentenced to more than nine years in prison, but was able flee the country and make it into the U.S. before serving his criminal sentence.
“This Brazilian fugitive has been convicted of a heinous crime in his native country,” acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde said at the time. “Rather than face the consequences for his actions, he chose to flee, falsely believing he could evade justice in Massachusetts.”
“ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders,” Hyde continued.
It’s not immediately clear how or when Tiago Lucas entered the country, as ICE did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Before his ICE apprehension, Tiago Lucas lived at a Massachusetts residence that operated as a family daycare, a local investigation revealed.
A licensed daycare facility in Cape Cod shuttered following Tiago Lucas’ arrest, according to Boston 25 News. Franciele Nunes in Hyannis, the owner of the facility and reportedly the mother of Tiago Lucas’ two children, allowed her license from the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to expire in March.
Despite EEC records indicating that the agency inspected the daycare facility five separate times, the agency stated that they discovered no evidence at the time that Tiago Lucas was living there, according to Boston 25. EEC did not become aware of the Brazilian national’s connection to the daycare until several months after his arrest by ICE agents.
A spokesperson for the EEC did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
The discovery has drawn concerns over government oversight of child care facilities, particularly regarding individuals with criminal histories outside the U.S. EEC requires background checks on all people 15 or older living or regularly visiting home daycares, but these checks do not extend to criminal records outside the country, nor is immigration status a factor in background checks, according to Boston 25.
“The idea that someone has been documented, that a Brazilian national fled the country because they were convicted for rape of a 13-year-old and could come to Massachusetts and not only disappear into the fabric of Massachusetts, but actually be living in a home that was a daycare center for young people. That’s terrifying,” Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis said to Boston 25.
The now-shuttered daycare home was located in Cape Cod, a locality in eastern Massachusetts that has long been a Democratic Party stronghold.
Barnstable County, Massachusetts, which encompasses the Cape Cod peninsula, voted for the Harris-Walz presidential ticket by a nearly 60% margin in the 2024 general election, according to election results, following an unbroken trend since the 1990s. The entire state of Massachusetts is identified as a sanctuary haven for illegal migrants, per policies that restrict how law enforcement authorities can engage with federal immigration agents.
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