(The Center Square) – ICE Boston agents continue to arrest violent illegal border crossers, including violent gang members, sex offenders, murderers and fugitives wanted in their home countries.
Recent major arrests include two dozen leaders, members and associates of the Trinitarios gang, a violent Dominican Republic-based transnational criminal organization. The TCO is actively operating in Lawrence, Lynn, Boston and Haverhill, according to court documents and a multi-agency operation.
Trinitarios members are known for dominating communities by intimidating rival gangs and establishing control over certain neighborhoods to control drug territory and customers. Tactics they use include robberies, shootings and murder, ICE says.
Eight alleged gang members were arrested on Feb. 19; 22 have been charged so far in a racketeering conspiracy connected to six murders and 11 attempted murders and shootings that occurred in Lynn, Mass. in 2023.
Massachusetts Trinitarios have committed at least 10 homicides in Essex County, are believed to be responsible for numerous attempted murders, shootings, kidnappings and robberies. Sixteen members have been charged six murders – two of which occurred in Lawrence in 2017 and two double murders in Lynn in 2023.
“For well over a decade, Trinitarios gang members have engaged in brazen acts of murder, assault, and drug distribution – instilling fear in the communities of Lynn and Lawrence in particular,” U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said. The multi-agency operation “struck a significant blow against the leadership of the Trinitarios operating in Massachusetts – virtually dismantling an organization responsible for years of bloodshed, drug trafficking, and lawlessness” and “ends the Trinitarios reign of terror in Massachusetts. Today, our communities are safer with the removal of these alleged violent offenders from our streets, and where appropriate, from our country.”
ICE Boston agents have been arresting illegal foreign nationals despite local jurisdictions refusing to cooperate.
This includes the recent arrest of a Guatemalan national convicted in Massachusetts of assault and battery on a family member, among other charges. He first illegally entered the U.S. near Laredo, Texas, and voluntarily returned to Mexico. He later illegally reentered as a gotaway “on an unknown date, at an unknown location, and without being inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. immigration official,” ICE said.
After he was arrested, convicted, sentenced and incarcerated, ICE lodged a detainer request with the Middlesex County House of Corrections in Billerica, which ignored the request and released him last December. ICE agents found him in January.
ICE Boston agents also arrested a Turkish national illegally in the U.S. charged with witness intimidation, assault and battery on an intellectually disabled person. This is after ICE lodged a detainer request with the Somerville District Court, which ignored it and released him into the community.
“This is a tragic example of what can go wrong when local jurisdictions refuse to honor immigration detainers,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde said. “The local jurisdiction ignored our detainer and released [him] into the community. Unfortunately, he re-offended resulting in a second arrest for assaulting an intellectually disabled resident.”
ICE Boston agents also arrested a previously deported Dominican national who illegally entered the U.S. as a gotaway. He previously served prison time on heroin distribution crimes and is currently charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and shoplifting crimes. ICE lodged a detainer request with the Boston Police Department in 2023 but determined in 2024 that he was released and its request was ignored. It would take another year for ICE agents to find and arrest him.
ICE Boston agents also recently arrested a fugitive wanted for armed robbery in Brazil. He first illegally entered the U.S. in 2020, was apprehended and voluntarily returned to Mexico. He illegally reentered and a U.S. immigration judge ordered him released into the U.S. on bond. “This Brazilian fugitive is facing significant charges in his home country, so he attempted to flee justice by coming here,” Hyde said. “Every day he was hiding out in Massachusetts, he posed a significant threat to our residents.”
Other recent ICE Boston arrests include a Brazilian national illegally in the U.S. who was convicted in Connecticut of sexual assault, unlawful restraint and violating a protective order; a Salvadoran fugitive wanted for aggravated homicide who illegally entered the U.S. as a gotaway; a Chinese fugitive wanted for embezzlement, criminal conversion, fraud, and felony drug trafficking; a Haitian national charged with indecent assault and battery of a person 14 years or older, among others.
Those arrested remain in ICE custody until they are processed for removal to their home country.
ICE Boston agents also recently removed a fugitive wanted for a shooting in Jamaica. The 30-year-old man illegally entered the U.S. in California in 2022 and Border Patrol agents released him into the U.S., failing to see a 2018 Jamaican warrant for his arrest.
He “attempted to flee justice in his home country and take refuge in the United States” and “then continued to break the law in Connecticut,” Hyde said. In 2023, New Haven Police Department officers arrested him for threatening first degree with hazard to terrorize.
After serving his prison sentence, ICE arrested and removed him.
