ERO Boston arrests Dominican national accused of kidnapping and home invasion after district court declines to honor immigration detainer

BOSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston arrested Julio Esteban Batista-Castillo, 24, in Boston Nov. 18. The Roxbury District Court in Boston had arraigned him that same day on multiple assault and battery charges, kidnapping, malicious destruction of property, breaking and entering and home invasion before releasing him. His arraignment came more than a year after he unlawfully entered the United States in January 2023.

“Batista has been accused of very serious crimes, including assault and battery involving strangulation and a firearm,” said ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “This is not someone you want to release into the community, so ERO Boston lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Roxbury District Court — a simple request for law enforcement officers to hold him in custody for a short time so our officers could arrest him in a safe, controlled setting. Unfortunately, the detainer was not honored, putting everyone in the community and our officers at risk.”

Batista is currently in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

ERO lodges immigration detainers against those who have been arrested for criminal activity and taken into custody by state or local law enforcement. Detainers are requests from ICE to state or local law enforcement agencies asking them to notify ICE as early as possible before they release a removable noncitizen from their custody.

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 is one of ICE’s three operational directorates and 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 can report crimes and suspicious activity by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.

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