ERO Boston arrests previously removed Dominican national convicted of fentanyl trafficking
BOSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested an unlawfully present citizen of the Dominican Republic in Chestnut Hill on April 27. The Dominican national was previously convicted in U.S. federal court of possession and distribution of fentanyl.
“ERO Boston is committed to addressing the deadly epidemic of fentanyl that is ravaging our communities,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons. “The toll of fentanyl and its trafficking in our region has had a devastating impact on our communities. We will continue to track, apprehend and remove traffickers like this individual who have no right to be present in the country and whose drug dealing will not be tolerated.”
Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested the Dominican national, who unlawfully entered the United States before 2019, in November 2019. He was convicted of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl in April 2021 and sentenced to 21 months in U.S. federal prison.
The man completed his federal prison sentence in May 2021, and an immigration judge with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) ordered him removed the next month. Officials removed the man from the United States in July 2021. His federal felony conviction was a primary determinant in his being found eligible for removal from the United States.
On an unknown date, the foreign national unlawfully returned to the United States following his removal to the Dominican Republic. ERO Boston located and apprehended him without incident in Chestnut Hill on April 27 and will seek to reinstate the EOIR immigration judge’s final order of removal.
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 EOIR. EOIR is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case. ERO officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges.
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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