A Brazilian national convicted and sentenced to prison for armed robbery in Brazil, was arrested in Massachusetts by U.S. federal agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced.
The unlawfully present foreign national was arrested April 19 in Milford, Mass., by ERO Boston agents, the ICE news release reports. The individual had been convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to nine years in prison by a criminal court in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in June 2017, according to the release. The individual allegedly fled Brazil and at an unknown date, illegally entered the U.S. at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“When convicted violent criminals are unlawfully present in a community, they pose a threat to public safety,” ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons said in the news release. "ERO Boston is committed to arresting and removing dangerous individuals who have violated U.S. immigration law. We are relentless in apprehending those who place our communities at risk.”
Federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are run by the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) inside the Department of Justice (DOJ), ensure that noncitizens who are subject to removal proceedings receive their legal due process, according to the release. The merits of each case are considered by immigration judges in these courts when deciding whether a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or qualifies for specific types of relief from removal. ICE officials may execute a removal once a noncitizen is the subject of a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or through another legal process.
ERO files immigration detainers against noncitizens who have been detained by state or local law enforcement after being detained for criminal behavior as part of its objective to locate and detain removable noncitizens, the release reports. A request for an immigration detainer is made by ICE to state or local law enforcement organizations so that they can alert ICE as soon as possible before releasing a removable noncitizen from their custody.
Detainers ask that the noncitizen be held by state or local law enforcement for a maximum of 48 hours after they would normally be released. This gives ERO the opportunity to take possession of the noncitizen for the purpose of removal in accordance with federal law.
