Rhode Island law enforcement officials released an illegal immigrant charged with sexually assaulting someone with a “severe” mental handicap, despite a detainer request lodged against him, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
ICE agents apprehended Rigberto Hoyos-Alban, a 33-year-old Colombian national accused of a slate of assault and sexual assault crimes, the agency announced on Thursday. ICE is blasting Rhode Island officials for releasing the illegal immigrant back into the community despite an immigration detainer placed on him.
“Rigberto Hoyos-Alban has been charged with four couts [sic] of sexual assault and one count of assault aganst [sic] a person with a severe mental handicap,” ERO New England Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons said in a statement. “This is not the type of individual we want walking the streets of our New England neighborhoods.”
“ERO Boston will continue to prioritize the safety of our public by apprehending and removing violent noncitizens from our communities,” Lyons continued.
Border Patrol officials arrested Hoyos-Alban in November 2023 after he illegally entered the U.S. near the Rio Grande Valley, Texas area, according to ICE. He was subsequently issued a notice to appear before an immigration judge and released on his own recognizance.
Central Falls Police Department officers arrested Hoyos-Alban on March 13 and charged him with two counts of sexual assault in the first degree, two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, and one count of felony assault on a person mentally impaired, ICE said. Deportation officers lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute the next day.
However, the agency says the facility ignored the detainer and released Hoyos-Alban from their custody.
Deportation officers were able to apprehend the illegal immigrant on their own in Cranston, Rhode Island on May 22, the agency said. He will remain in their custody pending the outcome of his deportation proceedings.
This is not the first time ICE has ripped Rhode Island officials for ignoring their detainer requests and releasing criminal aliens from local custody. The agency issued a press release earlier this year about state officials releasing a Guatemalan illegal immigrant accused of child molestation from their custody, despite an immigration detainer lodged against him.
The Center for Immigration Studies lists Rhode Island as a sanctuary jurisdiction, citing a July 2014 policy directive issued by the governor at that time.
ICE has made a particular focus of New England communities recently, having issued press releases on local authorities in Massachusetts and Connecticut for their refusal to honor immigration detainer requests on criminal aliens. Crime by illegal immigrants has pushed officials in nearby New York City to introduce legislation rolling back their sanctuary city laws.
“The record shows that this person was discharged directly to Immigration authorities,” a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections said in response to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “He was picked up by immigration officials outside of Home Confinement on 5/22/2024 at 19:45 hrs.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated to include comment from the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.
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