ICE surge underway in Greater Boston, Herald rides along: 'Our officers aren't stopping'

BOSTON — Waiting inside his unmarked cruiser at a bank parking lot, the deputy director of ICE’s ERO Boston field office received a call from his radio: His colleagues spotted their target.

After a slow morning, it was go time and The Boston Herald was along for the ride.

David Wesling sped out of the parking lot and onto Broadway. Instantly, traffic came to a halt on the busy corridor in Everett.

Federal immigration authorities detained Ageu Del Almeida Freitas after the 42-year-old Brazilian national tried to resist arrest.

A woman whom the illegal alien identified as his wife yelled out frantically: “Don’t do this! I have a baby … What am I going to do? … Why did you guys do that?”

The chaotic scene played out around 10:15 Saturday morning, evidence that the latest surge of illegal immigrant arrests is well underway across Greater Boston.

Immigration agents from across the country have descended upon Boston and other towns and cities in the Bay State for an operation that officials are dubbing "Patriot 2.0."

“This is the result of the sanctuary policies here within the Commonwealth, specifically like the city of Boston,” Wesling told the Herald after the morning’s work wrapped up.

“Rather than an immigration detainer being honored, and the person being turned over to us in a safe, secure custodial environment,” he added, “they were released back into the community, given opportunities to reoffend.”

Del Almedia Freitas is said to have overstayed his visa and has pending charge for violating a protection-from-abuse order, according to ICE. Local authorities did not honor a civil immigration detainer, the agency says.

His previous criminal history includes two violations of an abuse prevention order and a charge of destruction of property, all of which have been dismissed.

A Herald reporter and photographer rode along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday morning, witnessing just Del Almeida Freitas’ arrest after a slow start to the day that began before dawn in a shopping plaza parking lot in Chelsea where teams were deployed to the surrounding area, including Everett and Revere.

“You’ve got some individuals with a violent history,” Wesling told his agents shortly after 5:30 a.m. “Be safe … make sure you have your gear on and take care of each other out there.”

While the Herald witnessed just one arrest, it proved to be an action-packed morning for other teams spread throughout the state, including in Lowell, Fall River and Springfield. By 11 a.m., Wesling received reports that roughly 20 arrests had been made to start the day.

That increased the total number of reported arrests since Operation Patriot 2.0 began Thursday to just more than 100, with 88 being made heading into Saturday. Officers joining the effort have come from Texas, California, Washington and elsewhere, Wesling told the Herald.

ICE is receiving assistance from the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Diplomatic Security, among other agencies in the ramped-up effort.

In Brockton, authorities arrested a 39-year-old illegal alien from Cape Verde for overstaying his visa after local police charged the individual for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

In Framingham, federal agents also detained a 31-year-old Brazilian national on Saturday for illegally entering U.S. Local police there charged the illegal immigrant for assault and battery on a family/household member, according to ICE.

“Our officers aren’t stopping until we get every criminal illegal alien here in Massachusetts,” Wesling told the Herald. “There is no target number other than all.”

ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons confirmed on Friday that the latest surge had already begun with the influx of ICE agents in the region. This comes after the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the City of Boston, the Boston Police Department, Mayor Michelle Wu and Police Commissioner Michael Cox on Thursday.

Specifically, President Donald Trump is targeting the Boston Trust Act, which limits the city’s cooperation with federal immigration agents. Wu has called the complaint an “unconstitutional attack,” saying that the city “will not yield” on its immigration policies.

Enacted in 2014, the Trust Act prohibits the BPD and other city agencies from assisting ICE with apprehending illegal immigrants or complying with ICE civil immigration detainers.

Under a 2017 state Supreme Judicial Court ruling, Massachusetts authorities also cannot arrest or hold a person based on a detainer that requests law enforcement to hold a “noncitizen for a period not to exceed 48 hours beyond the time the individual would otherwise be released.”

In Wesling’s eyes, such policies increase the likelihood of criminal illegal aliens reoffending — an issue that he said needs to be curtailed.

“Removing that threat and criminal element,” he said, “it’s something that you would think most people would appreciate, but for some reason elected officials here in Massachusetts and these activist groups just oppose us for the sake of opposing us.”

Wesling and a group of his colleagues — roughly six agents in separate cars — first targeted an illegal alien in a residential neighborhood off of Bellingham Square in Chelsea at the beginning of their Saturday morning shift.

Shortly after parking a couple of blocks away from the targeted home, Wesling spotted a man in a nearby residential unit looking at the deputy director’s vehicle. A photo that appeared to be taken from the same spot where the man was seen was then posted on the Facebook page of Lucy Pineda.

Pineda is a 52-year-old native of El Salvador who heads the Everett-based Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts. The network of more than 2,500 volunteers patrols neighborhoods across the state, informing residents of ICE’s presence.

Around 8:30 a.m., a woman started walking up and down the street that Wesling parked on, yelling in Spanish, “Immigration is here!” and expletives. The woman posted on TikTok, under the account “vikinga504_1,” “Migration is in the neighborhood do not go out migration do not go out.”

“The average person,” Wesling said, “they would all agree that they don’t want this person living next door to them, they don’t want this person living in their community. But then you have an activist who is just opposing us ideologically … regardless of who we are trying to arrest.”

“Not only does it make it more difficult to encounter the person and arrest them,” he added, “but it makes the arrest much more dangerous to our officers.”

The first Operation Patriot came in May, when federal immigration authorities spent the month across the Bay State, arresting 1,461 illegal aliens, including 790 charged with or convicted of crimes in the U.S. or abroad.

One of the arrested illegal aliens was 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.

The month-long operation came after the feds arrested 370 illegal immigrants in a week during March, with that effort largely focusing on transnational organized crime and gangs, including the notorious MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Trinitarios, and 18th Street.

Of the 370 people arrested, 205 had significant criminal convictions or charges, ICE Boston reported at the time.

“They ignore the tangible public safety benefits that are out there by working with us, cooperating with us,” Wesling said of the political opposition he and his colleagues are facing, “to ensure that the criminal element and these bad actors aren’t able to reoffend and victimize another person.”