A previously deported illegal migrant wanted in his home country for alleged crimes against humanity was apprehended in a state known for not cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers apprehended an unlawfully present Salvadoran national on Sept. 17 in Tisbury, Massachusetts, according to a press release from the agency. The 50-year-old man, who remained unidentified by the agency, has an immigration history with the U.S. dating back to the 1990s and had been repeatedly released by authorities.
“This Salvadoran fugitive is wanted by authorities in his native country to face some extremely serious and disturbing allegations,” Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde said in a statement. “He attempted to hide out in Massachusetts and escape the law in his home country.”
“He posed a substantial threat to the residents of Martha’s Vineyard,” Hyde continued.
Border Patrol agents apprehended the Salvadoran national in November 1994 after he was observed illegally entering the U.S. near Harlingen, Texas, according to ICE. A Department of Justice immigration judge ordered him to be removed from the country in June 1995.
Deportation officers did not arrest the individual until February 2009 in Framingham, Massachusetts, nearly three years after he was convicted in a Maine superior court of disorderly conduct, according to the agency. Agents then released him on an order of supervision, placing him on Alternatives to Detention (ATD), where he later violated terms of the terms of the ATD program.
The Salvadoran national was apprehended by deportation officers working out of the Boston office in May 2010, according to ICE. He was deported back to his home country in June of the following year.
However, the individual illegally re-entered the U.S. on an unknown date and location, meaning he was among the wave of “gotaways” that have entered the country unlawfully without detection by immigration authorities, the agency stated. Authorities in his home nation of El Salvador charged him with crimes against humanity and illegal trafficking of people on July 11, 2011.
Tisbury is notably located on Martha’s Vineyard, an incredibly wealthy island that is a destination of choice for many of the country’s elite.
The Obamas enjoy vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, having purchased a home on the island in 2019 worth roughly $15 million. Martha’s Vineyard was subject to national media attention in 2022 when Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew a number of illegal migrants from his state and dropped them off into the community.
Deportation officers arrested Felix Alberto Perez-Gomez, Elmer Sola, Gean Do Amaral Belafronte and Bryan Daniel Aldana-Arevalo on Nantucket, Massachusetts, between Sept. 10 and Sept. 11, according to several announcements made by the agency this month. All illegal migrants targeted were previously charged with sex crimes against children or other residents in the community.
The entire state of Massachusetts is identified as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that tracks such laws across the U.S. The organization cites a 2017 court decision that limits local authorities’ ability to detain migrants wanted by ICE authorities.
“ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety in all of our New England communities by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders,” Hyde stated in his agency’s Monday press release.
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