Around New England

Feds Arrest Brazilian Man Charged With Raping A Minor In Massachusetts After Massachusetts State Court Doesn’t Honor Immigration Detainer

April 16, 2024

Federal immigration authorities say they recently arrested in Lowell a 20-year-old Brazilian man accused of raping a minor after a Milford District Court judge “failed to honor” a request to detain him.

U.S. Border Patrol initially arrested the unnamed man July 28, 2021 along with his father and mother after they illegally entered Arizona from Mexico, according to a press release from Enforcement and Removal Operations, a law enforcement component of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were released with an order to appear before a federal immigration judge at a future date.

On August 2, 2023, Billerica police arrested the 20-year-old man for driving a motor vehicle without a license and driving without an inspection sticker, but those charges were later dismissed, according to federal immigration authorities.

On December 20, 2023, Milford police issued an arrest warrant for the man on charges of raping a child and enticement of a child under 16, according to the press release.

The man was arrested by local police in Portland, Maine on January 10, 2024 and brought before a judge in Milford District Court on January 18, but on January 25 the judge “failed to honor ERO Boston’s immigration detainer and released the noncitizen from custody after he paid $5,000 in bail,” while also requiring Global Positioning System monitoring, according to the written statement from the Boston office of Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Federal immigration authorities issue detainer requests against non-U.S. citizens arrested on criminal charges, which allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take the non-citizens into custody and begin proceedings to try to deport them.

Federal deportation officers arrested the man March 28 — 63 days after he was released in Milford — near his home in Lowell, according to the press release.

“This Brazilian noncitizen is accused of sexually abusing a Massachusetts minor,” said Todd Lyons, Boston field office director of the Enforcement and Removal Operations, according to the written statement. “Every second he spends roaming free in our communities, he represents a potential threat to the children of our communities.”

The press release does not mention the names of the defendant or the judge.

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