ERO Boston arrests fugitive convicted of armed robbery in Brazil
BOSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested an unlawfully present foreign fugitive in Shrewsbury on June 8. A court in Paraiba, Brazil, convicted the man of armed robbery in March 2017.
In June 2018, the 29-year-old Brazilian citizen was granted entrance into the United States for six months under a visitor visa, but he remained in the country for five years beyond the visa’s terms. Law enforcement authorities in Brazil have been seeking his custody due to his criminal conviction there.
“Convicted foreign fugitives do not have a right to evade justice in their own country by hiding out in our region,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons. "ERO Boston is strongly committed to apprehending and removing criminal fugitives who pose a real threat to the safety and security of the residents of our community. We will not tolerate their presence here.”
After U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) assistant attaché for removal in Brazil notified ERO Boston that the man may be present in its area of responsibility, officials initiated an investigation confirming his presence in the region. They arrested him on immigration violations near where he was working in Shrewsbury. He will remain in ERO Boston custody pending the outcome of an upcoming hearing before a federal immigration judge.
Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice and is separate 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. Once a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or other lawful means, ICE officers may carry out the removal.
ERO officers make enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis in a professional and responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement officials and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.
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.
In fiscal year 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens with criminal histories. This group had 198,498 associated charges and convictions, including 21,531 assault offenses; 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses; 5,554 weapons offenses; 1,501 homicide-related offenses; and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.
For more news and information on how the ERO Boston field office carries out its immigration enforcement mission, follow us on Twitter @EROBoston.
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