BOSTON:- More than 1,400 undocumented immigrants have been arrested during a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Boston area of Massachusetts.
The operation, dubbed Patriot 2.0, was conducted from September 4 to 30. More than 1,461 people were reportedly detained in the first Operation Patriot, which was conducted in the state in May.
“Of the 1,406 undocumented immigrants arrested in Massachusetts last month, more than 600 had criminal charges or pending criminal charges,” ICE said in a statement released Thursday.
“Six of those arrested were members of an international criminal gang, while several others were gang associates,” the statement said. “Three of those arrested were known or suspected terrorists.”
Among those arrested was Anderson Stephen Hernandez-Vasquez, a 24-year-old Guatemalan who had served two years in prison in Woburn for child rape, according to ICE.
Mario Augusto Lopes-Barros, a 42-year-old Cape Verdean national convicted of murder, and Wellington Ariste, a 29-year-old Dominican Republic national wanted in Massachusetts for possession of fentanyl and other drugs, were also taken into custody, ICE said.
In another incident, a 16-year-old was taken into custody by ICE in Milford on September 12, but the teenager was later released.
Remember, both Massachusetts Governor Maura Haley and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu have been critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.