Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported taking nearly 1,500 illegal aliens into custody during a large-scale sweep through the Boston area.
The operation was a monthlong effort “focusing on transnational organized crime, gangs and egregious illegal alien offenders,” ICE said in a June 2 statement.
“The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a safer place today thanks to the hard work and determination of the men and women of ICE and our federal partners. Working together, we were able to arrest almost 1,500 illegal aliens throughout the Commonwealth, most of whom had significant criminality in the United States or abroad,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde.
“To any criminal alien offenders victimizing Massachusetts residents, ICE is not going away. We are coming for you,” Hyde warned.
The final tally in the multi-agency action dubbed “Operation Patriot” reportedly ended with 1,461 migrants who had illegally entered the United States being taken into custody.
Hyde added that illegal aliens can no longer hide from justice in so-called sanctuary areas.
“Make no mistake,” Hyde continued. “Every person that we arrested was breaking our immigration laws, but most of these individuals had significant criminality. They are criminal offenders who victimized innocent people and traumatized entire communities — murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, child sex predators and members of violent transnational criminal gangs. Some were convicted of violent crimes in the United States, and others were wanted for criminality in their native countries. All made the mistake of attempting to subvert justice by hiding out in Massachusetts.”
Other agencies that joined ICE in Operation Patriot included U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the ATF, the FBI, the DEA, and the Diplomatic Security Service.
ICE also noted that citizens can supply reports of crimes and suspicious activities to officials by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.
Among those taken into custody were citizens of Guatemala, Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, and more.
Many had already run afoul of the law and had convictions for robbery, homicide, assault, sex trafficking, breaking and entering, pornography, child rape, and many more dangerous and violent crimes.
U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley also warned illegal migrants on Monday.
“When someone who is here illegally chooses to engage in crime, when they bring fentanyl into our neighborhoods, sell firearms to gangs, or assume false identities to collect benefits intended for vulnerable Americans, these are not immigrants, these are criminals,” Foley said.
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