ERO Boston arrests unlawfully present Ecuadoran charged with fatal hit and run accident
BOSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested an unlawfully present citizen of Ecuador recently arrested and charged by Massachusetts State Police with leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury or death and leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage on April 20.
The U.S. Border Patrol encountered the Ecuadoran citizen after he unlawfully entered the U.S. without inspection on Aug. 3, 2022. That agency released him pending a future hearing before an immigration judge with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
ERO Boston lodged an immigration detainer seeking his custody with the Brockton, Massachusetts District Court and the Plymouth County House of Correction on April 4.
The individual was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody by ERO Boston officers after he bonded out of local custody.
“This individual’s reckless and destructive behavior is an indicator that he is a threat to the community,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons. “He will remain in ICE custody, pending his immigration proceedings in front of an immigration judge. We hope that this arrest brings a greater sense of safety to our community.”
Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the EOIR within the Department of Justice. EOIR is a separate entity from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 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.
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 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 a critical public safety tool 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, the 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. Since 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.
Regardless of nationality, ICE makes custody determinations on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with U.S. law and DHS policy, considering the individual merits and factors of each case. ICE officers make associated decisions and apply prosecutorial discretion in a responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement professionals and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland.
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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