ICE agents from Boston had to arrest a Brazilian illegal immigrant accused of rape and extortion twice for sanctuary policies in the state of Massachusetts.
An ICE statement released last week said officers with the Boston Enforcement and Removal Unit arrested Agnaldo Moreiro da Cruz, 29, for the second time in December.
This came after Barnstable County officials in the Cape Cod in Massachusettshe twice ignored ICE’s detainer requests against Moreira da Cruz.
June 2, 2022: ICE agents conduct an enforcement operation inside the US. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
According to ICE’s statement, Barnstable County Superior Court not only ignored their detainers’ requests, but also violated the terms of its own agreement by refusing to return Moreiro da Cruz to ICE, after obtaining him through “Writ of habeas corpus”.
Moreira da Cruz was initially arrested by Yarmouth police in August 2023. He was charged in December 2023 and is being held at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, which he operates Barnstable Sheriff’s Officeuntil he was released on June 18, 2024, despite having an ICE detainer against him.
ICE found and arrested Moreira da Cruz a few months later on October 16th and, after receiving a petition for habeas corpus, had to bring him back to Superior Court in Barnstable on November 27th. The court then ignored the ICE detainer and released him on December 5.
Moreira da Cruz is accused of a series of violent crimes, including rape and extortion with the threat of injury.
This episode features Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and a group of migrants at the southern border. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images and Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“This is not someone you want to release into the community, but twice already our detainees have been ignored,” ICE said. “These decisions have repeatedly put Massachusetts citizens at risk of being victimized by an allegedly dangerous criminal.”
Asked why the ICE detainer was not honored, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Judicial Court sent Fox News Digital a copy of the court’s policy, which is based on precedent set by a 2017 Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling. “Lunn v. Commonwealth.”
The policy stipulates that trial court employees “do not have the authority to detain an individual solely” based on an ICE detainer, and those immigrants subject to these requests “should be processed and treated in the same manner as all other individuals who come before the court and are processed.”
The policy also states that no court officer or employee shall “call or otherwise initiate communication with any ICE officer” to inform them that an immigrant is in judicial custody and that “no ICE officer shall be permitted to detain person in accordance with the civil immigration detainer in the courtroom.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers seeking to arrest an illegal immigrant with a criminal record search a home Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, in Los Angeles, CA. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Barnstable Sheriff Donna Buckley told Fox News Digital that Lunn vs. The Commonwealth makes it “unlawful for state and local law enforcement agencies to arrest or detain people based solely on an ICE detainer, beyond the time the individual would otherwise be eligible to be released from state custody.”
“Massachusetts sheriffs operate within the scope and parameters of federal, state and local laws and regulations,” Buckley said. “As such, sheriffs are required to follow Commonwealth law and therefore cannot detain an individual based solely on an ICE detainer request, if that detained individual is not subject to specific court orders for detention.”
“Sheriffs don’t make laws. Sheriffs enforce the law,” she added.
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Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts said the state has reached its limit on shelter space. (AP Photo/Steve LeBlanc)
Meanwhile, Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and law and policy expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital that while Massachusetts courts have the final say in cases like this, “it’s important to note that it’s not necessarily finally a word.”
“Immigration is the ultimate federal issue,” Arthur said. “When states get involved in that process, they’re actually entering an area where they don’t have any expertise based on anecdotes and speculation.”
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He noted that states and localities receive billions of dollars in federal funding each year, which can depend on compliance with federal immigration authorities.
“On the one hand, they’re asking the federal government for money, and on the other hand, they’re telling the federal government that they’re not going to help them with a critical government duty,” he said. “Congress can always put any conditions they want on funding, and that’s a reasonable condition for them.”
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L- the southern border of the USA R – President Trump (Getty Images)
Arthur said he expects a Trump administration and incoming border king Tom Homan will act quickly to encourage Congress to enact such provisions.
“The biggest problem with this is that it puts ICE enforcement and removal officers at great risk because, instead of taking a criminal in a safe location, in a local or state jail, they actually have to go out on the street. They have to find that person in their home, thereby endangering their lives,” he explained. “It is also important to note that this is a matter of community safety.”
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“If we really want to keep our streets safe,” he continued, “the best way to do that is to get criminals off the street. And really, that’s what should be happening, and I predict you’ll see a movement, especially under the second Trump administration, to make it happen.”
Despite the actions of Barnstable County officials, Moreira da Cruz is currently in ICE custody, awaiting immigration and criminal proceedings.
