The corner of Claflin and Hollis Streets in Framingham, where the alleged March 13 assault began. (Image courtesy of Google.com)
UPDATE: Charges against four illegal immigrants from Guatemala, arrested in connection with an alleged kidnapping and rape, were dropped Thursday.
Original story:
FRAMINGHAM – Federal officials say they weren’t notified by police of two illegal immigrants from Guatemala who had been arrested for drunken driving – and now both men are accused of kidnapping and other charges stemming from a recent Framingham incident in which a woman was raped and her boyfriend beaten, according to multiple reports.
Adan Diaz, 32, was arrested for drunken driving on Feb. 22, while his brother Ariel Diaz, 24, was charged with the same crime in December, the Boston Herald reported on Sunday. It said immigration authorities said they weren’t notified in either case. Both men, along with a third brother, Elmer Diaz, 19, and Marlon Josue Jarquin-Felipe, 27, all face charges in connection with the March 13 attack in Framingham.
All four are from Guatemala and entered the U.S. illegally, according to federal immigration officials.
Jarquin-Felipe was deported to Guatemala in April 2014 and Ariel Diaz had been deported in May 2014 after being convicted of drunken driving and disorderly conduct, Shawn Neudauer, a spokesman for the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, told the Herald.
The record of at least one of the four suspects contrasts with what one of their lawyers told the MetroWest Daily News shortly after their arraignment. Michael Coyle, who represents Adan Diaz, told the newspaper that his client “has a relatively clean record and hasn’t been in trouble for years,” although the Herald reported that Adan Diaz was arrested Feb. 22 and charged with drunken driving.
The incident has sparked another debate on so-called sanctuary city policies, although Framingham is not recognized as having taken that approach to immigrants, in which their legal status is ignored. Last August, Lawrence became the seventh Bay State municipality to formally adopt the policy, joining Cambridge, Chelsea, Northampton, Orleans, Somerville and Springfield.
State Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton) told the Herald that it’s time to end “catch-and-release” policies.
Sanctuary city policies ban police from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees. Some cities, like Worcester, don’t formally refer to themselves as sanctuary cities although their policing policies suggest otherwise.
Framingham also has policies in place that prohibit police from inquiring about immigration status.
“Enforcing federal immigration law is not a mission of the Framingham Police,” the policy states, with the emphasis in the document. “Accordingly, it is not appropriate for a member of the Department to inquire about, or investigate a non-citizen’s immigration or travel status if the sole purpose is to determine an individual’s immigration status or whether the person is in the country lawfully, or to facilitate a person’s detention or deportation by the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).”
The department’s policy does however provide for exemptions:
“A member of the Department may investigate a person’s immigration or travel status if the inquiry or investigation is part of, and reasonably likely to facilitate, the investigation of state criminal law, state motor vehicle law, federal criminal law (excluding federal immigration law), or conduct that is independent of immigration status that poses a threat to public safety or order.”
Neudauer told the Herald that ICE was never notified after any of the previous arrests.
The MetroWest Daily News reported that late on March 13, the men allegedly grabbed the woman as she was walking on Claflin Street and carried her to a nearby apartment as her boyfriend tried in vain to stop the attack.
Police charged Elmer Diaz with rape, kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon and threatening to commit a crime, according to the Daily News, while Ariel Diaz was charged with kidnapping, indecent assault and battery on a person older than 14, threatening to commit a crime, witness intimidation, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, unarmed robbery and assault and battery.
Adan Diaz and Jarquin-Felipe both face charges of indecent assault and battery on a person older than 14 and kidnapping by force, according to the Framingham newspaper.
The four were held without bail pending a dangerous hearings. Hearings set for Monday were postponed:
Dangerousness hearing delayed in #FRAMINGHAM rape case until Thursday
The corner of Claflin and Hollis Streets in Framingham, where the alleged March 13 assault began. (Image courtesy of Google.com) 
