ICE arrests nearly 1,500 illegal immigrants in Massachusetts: 'We need to do more'

Federal immigration authorities offered few details Monday about the nearly 1,500 people arrested in Massachusetts last month as part of a monthlong “enforcement operation” that targeted individuals accused of living in the United States illegally.

The uptick in immigration arrests led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has sparked criticism from Democrats who have raised concerns about immigrants’ due process rights, but praise from Republicans who want more deportations under President Donald Trump.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said officers from multiple federal agencies arrested 1,461 people in May who are accused of living in the country illegally, including 790 he said were charged with or convicted of crimes in the United States or abroad.

“Make no mistake, ICE is going to keep doing this,” Lyons told reporters at the federal courthouse in Boston. “This operation proved that we need to do more. While this operation was going on and the brave men and women from all these agencies were out conducting operations, more criminal aliens were being released into the community.”

The agency did not release the names of all the people who were arrested, the full set of charges they face, or where they were being detained.

In a press release later in the day, ICE provided only sparse details about a handful of cases, like an “illegally present 55-year-old Salvadoran national with an active Interpol Red Notice” for a series of crimes such as aggravated homicide and robbery.

James Covington, the regional communications director for ICE, said the agency does not plan to release all the names of those arrested.

“We don’t do that,” he told reporters when pressed on the matter after a formal press conference had ended.

No details were provided about the remaining 671 people federal authorities took into custody.

Videos have circulated over the past several weeks of immigration authorities across the state arresting people, including several instances where activists attempted to intervene in law enforcement efforts.

The actions and lack of information have drawn blowback from elected officials in Massachusetts, including Gov. Maura Healey. The first-term Democrat blasted immigration authorities last week after the arrests of around 40 people on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

At an unrelated event Monday morning, Healey again called on the agency to release more information about arrests officials make, including in the case of Marcelo Gomes, a high school junior accused of living in the country illegally who was arrested by ICE over the weekend.

“As a matter of due process, and because everybody should be following the law here, following the rules here, ICE should be producing information about who has been arrested, what they’ve been charged with, what their circumstance was, and they should make that available to the public. That, to me, is consistent with public safety and supporting our communities,” the former attorney general said. “So far, ICE has not done that.”

Trump ran for president on a promise to enact mass deportations across the United States, and since he took office in January, immigration officials like his border czar Tom Homan have zeroed in on communities in Massachusetts they describe as “sanctuary cities.”

The focus on the Bay State has largely been driven by a years-old court decision that bars local law enforcement from detaining people solely based on suspected civil immigration violations and the hundreds of millions spent by the Healey administration on state-run shelters housing Massachusetts residents and newly-arrived migrants.

Brian Shortsleeve, a venture capitalist and former MBTA official running for governor as a Republican, said Healey “rolled out a welcome mat” for criminals and gang members from around the world.

“Our taxpayers have been made to foot the bill to the tune of billions of dollars even as Healey’s warped sense of justice has made the commonwealth less affordable and less safe for our people,” he said in a statement. “Helaey should apologize to every taxpayer and every victim.”

Mike Kennealy, a former cabinet secretary in Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration who is running a Republican campaign for governor, said the 790 “criminal illegal immigrants” were in Massachusetts as a result of Healey’s “reckless sanctuary policies.”

“As governor, I will empower local, county, and state law enforcement to fully cooperate with federal agencies. We will remove criminals from our streets, protect our neighborhoods, and save millions of taxpayer dollars,” he said in a statement.

Of the 1,461 people federal authorities arrested, ICE officials only released a handful of details about 14, including the 55-year-old Salvadoran national whom they did not name.

Authorities took into custody a “32-year-old Guatemalan national and registered sex offender” who they accused of living in the United States illegally and said has pending criminal charges in Boston for five counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over.

Law enforcement also arrested a “37-year-old Honduran national” who they said was previously taken into custody in Fall River for rape, indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, witness intimidation, and kidnapping of a minor by relative.

Patricia Hyde, the acting field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston, said the agency arrested “criminal aliens who have been convicted of violent crimes in the United States and some who were wanted for criminality in their native countries.”

“All made the mistake of attempting to subvert justice by hiding out in Massachusetts,” she said. “To any criminal alien offenders victimizing Massachusetts residents, ICE is not going away. We are coming for you. While removing these individuals is extremely gratifying, we still have a lot of work to do.”

_____