Nantucket father voices concerns about recent ICE arrests, undocumented migrants on the island
Erik Evans, who has lived on Nantucket for 31 years and has an 8-year-old daughter in its public schools, says the island is "not what it once was."
Two more illegal immigrants accused of crimes were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Martha's Vineyard on the same day recently, the latest migrants apprehended on the affluent islands off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
On Sept. 17, ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston team tracked down a 36-year-old Brazilian fugitive to Oak Bluffs who was wanted by his own country's authorities and skipped out on a 10-year prison sentence for drug trafficking, officials said.
"This fugitive was convicted of international drug crimes in Brazil, and instead of serving his debt to society, he chose to run and hide on Martha’s Vineyard," said ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde.
"Our officers are the best in the world at finding people who don’t want to be found. ERO Boston will continue our mission to prioritize public safety by apprehending and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from our New England communities."
A 36-year-old Brazilian migrant wanted for international drug trafficking was arrested by ERO Boston on Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 17. (ERO Boston)
The Brazilian was lawfully admitted into the country in Orlando, Florida, on March 7, 2020, but violated the terms of his legal admission, ICE said. However, unbeknownst to immigration officials who admitted him, he had been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison by a Brazilian court on May 10, 2012.
Also on Sept. 17, the agency arrested a 50-year-old Salvadoran national wanted by his own country's authorities for crimes against humanity who had been hiding out in the Martha's Vineyard town of Tisbury.
"This Salvadoran fugitive is wanted by authorities in his native country to face some extremely serious and disturbing allegations," Hyde said in a release, which did not identify the 50-year-old suspect. "He attempted to hide out in Massachusetts and escape the law in his home country. He posed a substantial threat to the residents of Martha’s Vineyard. ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety in all of our New England communities by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders."
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A 50-year-old Salvadoran migrant wanted for crimes against humanity in his own country was arrested in the town of Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 17. (ERO Boston)
The Salvadoran was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol on Nov. 27, 1994, after he crossed the U.S. border near Harlingen, Texas. On June 21, 1995, an immigration judge ordered his deportation back to El Salvador.
Years later, on July 6, 2003, the same man was convicted of disorderly conduct in a Portland, Maine Superior Court and sentenced to a fine and court costs.
Officers with ERO Boston arrested the man in 2009 but released him on an order of supervision via the Alternatives to Detention program, the agency said.
The program, which began in 2004, "uses [monitoring] technology and case management to ensure noncitizen compliance with release conditions, court hearings and final orders of removal," according to the agency.
However, he violated the terms of the program, was apprehended by the agency again on May 18, 2010 and was deported a second time on June 20, 2011.
The man remains in ERO custody. The nature of his crimes in his own country and the timing of his arrest there are unclear.
ICE told Fox News that it did not release the identities of the two men arrested on Sept. 17 because the charges stem from their home countries, and revealing their identities could give their legal representation cause to complain that they can’t receive a fair trial if their identities are exposed.
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The two arrests are the latest on the wealthy, liberal islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. On Sept. 3, 24-year-old Brazilian illegal immigrant Warley Neto was arrested on Martha's Vineyard. According to ERO Boston, he faces five counts of raping a Massachusetts minor after he entered the United Stated illegally at the Paso Del Norte border region of Texas in 2018.
In Nantucket on Sept. 10, 28-year-old Salvadoran migrants Bryan Daniel Aldana-Arevalo and Elmer Sola – both accused of sex crimes against children – were taken into custody by the agency.
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The next day, the agency arrested Brazilian immigrant Gean Do Amaral Belafronte, who was charged with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years or older, on the island.
Felix Alberto Perez-Gomez from Guatemala, 41, was also arrested on the island that day, and allegedly committed a sex crime against a Nantucket resident.
On Sept. 12, documented MS-13 gang member Angel Gabriel Deras-Mejia of Salvador was arrested on Nantucket, according to the agency.
Fox News' Andrew Fone contributed to this report.
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