It was the biggest operation that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ever run. During the month of May, they arrested 1,461 illegal aliens in Massachusetts.
There was a direct response to sanctuary laws in Massachusetts with “Operation Patriot,” which ended on May 31. Officials said this at a press conference on Monday.
About 790 of the people caught during the operation had been convicted or charged with a crime, and 277 had final deportation and removal orders but refused to follow through, staying in the country illegally.
During the month-long operation, ICE officers in Boston worked with the FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the ATF, and other federal groups.
As part of Operation Patriot, police nabbed about 40 illegal immigrants in Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard at the same time. Among them were at least one child sex predator and a member of a transnational gang.
“Tidal Wave,” which led to 1,120 arrests in Florida, was ICE’s biggest operation before. It was much harder to carry out “Operation Patriot,” according to officials, because local governments in Massachusetts didn’t help federal agents. Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, said that those areas refused to respect immigration detainer requests to hand over the criminals.
“Not only did they enter our country illegally but they were released back into our community by elected officials and sanctuary jurisdictions that did not want to turn these individuals over to ICE,” Lyons said.
Patricia Hyde, acting Field Office Director for ICE in Boston, said that during the month-long operation, federal agents went after criminals. She also said that if agents found someone in the country illegally while they were looking for criminal aliens, they arrested them as well.
That’s what happened to 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes. He was arrested while police were looking for his father. Hyde said that Gomes wasn’t the focus of the investigation, but authorities have to “go out and look for people” when sanctuary cities don’t work with ICE.
On Saturday morning, Gomes was pulled over in his car because it was registered in the name of his father.
“He’s 18 years old and he’s unlawfully in this country,” Hyde told us. “And it’s too bad we had to go to Milford to find someone else; we ran into him there.” He was also caught.
Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts was angry about Gomes’s arrest and the federal effort to catch him.
“I’m demanding immediate answers from ICE about the arrest of a Milford High School student yesterday, where he is and how his due process is being protected,” Healey said in a post on X. “The Trump Administration continues to create fear in our communities, and it’s making us all less safe.”
ICE is still holding Gomes at this time.
Officials said on Monday that all of the illegal immigrants caught during Operation Patriot will stay in ICE custody until the end of their removal procedures, which could mean that they are sent back to their home country.
The operation, which will last for a month, is part of a larger push by the Trump administration to stop illegal immigration and remove criminal illegal immigrants right away.
“When someone who is here illegally chooses to engage in crime, when they bring fentanyl into our neighborhoods, sell firearms to gangs, and or assume false identities to collect benefits intended for vulnerable Americans, these are not immigrants, they are criminals and they will be treated as such,” Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley told reporters.
While running for office in 2024, President Donald Trump promised to uphold immigration law and send away the most people ever in U.S. history. On his first day in office, Trump signed an order telling government agencies to enforce the law, focusing on criminal illegal immigrants who are seen as major threats to public safety and national security.
Leave a Reply