ERO Boston arrests Brazilian national charged with numerous child sex offenses

BOSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston apprehended an unlawfully present Brazilian national charged with child sex crimes in Massachusetts. Deportation officers from ERO Boston arrested the 53-year-old Brazilian native March 28 near his residence in Revere.

“This Brazilian national has been charged with some horrific and disturbing crimes,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons. “This is certainly not the type of person that we want interacting freely with the children of our neighborhoods. ERO Boston will continue to work tirelessly to arrest and remove noncitizen child sex predators from our New England communities.”

The Brazilian national was admitted to the United States in Miami, Florida, on Sept. 6, 2001, as a nonimmigrant with authorization to remain in the United States until March 5, 2002. He failed to leave the United States by that date.

ERO encountered the Brazilian noncitizen March 27, 2007, after an investigation conducted by the Everett Police Department and the U.S. Postal Service. He was deemed removable pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act and placed into removal proceedings. He bonded out of ERO custody April 5, 2007, pending removal proceedings.

On Feb. 12, 2008, a Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge in Boston granted the Brazilian national voluntary departure from the United States to Brazil. The DOJ immigration judge gave him until June 11, 2008, to depart the country.

He voluntarily departed the United States June 6, 2008. However, he unlawfully reentered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location without being inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.

The Everett Police Department arrested him Dec. 20, 2021, for the charges of indecent assault and battery on a child and rape of a child. The noncitizen was booked into the Middlesex County House of Corrections. Later that day, the ICE Pacific Enforcement Response Center (PERC) lodged an Immigration Detainer request with the Middlesex County House of Corrections to be notified in advance of his release.

He was arraigned at the Middlesex Superior Court April 7, 2022, after being indicted for five counts of aggravated rape of a child by joint enterprise; one count of aggravated rape of a child-five year age difference; four counts of aggravated rape of a child-10 year age difference; one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14; and one count of obscene material to minor.

The Middlesex County Superior Court failed to honor ERO’s request and released the Brazilian noncitizen from custody Nov. 23, 2022.

Deportation officers from ERO Boston arrested the 53-year-old Brazilian native March 28.

As part of its mission to identify and arrest removable noncitizens, ERO lodges immigration detainers against noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity and taken into custody by state or local law enforcement. An immigration detainer is a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to state or local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE as early as possible before a removable noncitizen is released from their custody. Detainers request that state or local law enforcement agencies maintain custody of the noncitizen for a period not to exceed 48 hours beyond the time the individual would otherwise be released, allowing ERO to assume custody for removal purposes in accordance with federal law.

Detainers are critical public safety tools because they focus enforcement resources on removable noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity. Detainers increase the safety of all parties involved — ERO personnel, law enforcement officials, removable noncitizens and the public — by allowing an arrest to be made in a secure and controlled custodial setting as opposed to at-large within the community. Because detainers result in the direct transfer of a noncitizen from state or local custody to ERO custody, they also minimize the potential that an individual will reoffend. Additionally, detainers conserve scarce government resources by allowing ERO to take criminal noncitizens into custody directly rather than expending resources locating these individuals at-large.

ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is a separate entity from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal.

As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.

Members of the public with information regarding child sex offenders can report crimes or suspicious activity by dialing the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.

Learn more about ERO Boston’s mission to increase public safety in our New England communities on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @EROBoston.