A Massachusetts court has ignored a request to have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detain an undocumented immigrant on charges of kidnapping and various sex crimes, the agency claims.
Emilio Jose Pena-Casilla, 46, a Dominican living in the United States illegally, was released back into society by Boston City Court after the court ignored ICE’s immigration detention. According to Press release from the agency. The announcement marks the latest spat between federal immigration authorities and Massachusetts government officials, many of whom have expressed concerns about public support for sanctuary policies following President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory. It has been stated. (Related: Illegal immigrants are scrambling for lawyers ahead of President Trump’s swearing-in)
However, an agency spokesperson said deportation officers were able to make the arrest despite the lack of cooperation from local authorities.
“Emilio Jose Pena-Casilla is accused of several very serious crimes against Massachusetts residents,” said Patricia Hyde, acting Boston Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Field Office Director. “We have a sacred duty to protect the residents of our communities, and we will continue to fulfill that duty by arresting and removing unpatriotic and egregious criminals from our neighborhoods.”
Emilio Pena-Casilla arrested. Image courtesy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to ICE, federal immigration authorities first encountered Pena-Casilla in January 2023 when he was arrested by Border Patrol agents near Eagle Pass, Texas, for illegally entering the United States. He was immediately enrolled in Alternative Detention (ATD), a program that allows asylum seekers to move freely within the country in lieu of physical detention while awaiting their immigration hearing dates, and was immediately released to the United States. .
However, the Dominican may have failed to follow the program’s guidelines or absconded altogether, and ICE says he was terminated from ATD on February 16, 2023.
ICE’s Boston office contacted the Boston Police Department after Pena-Casilla was indicted on July 15 in Dorchester District Court on charges including kidnapping, assault to rape, and two counts of indecent assault and battery. The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office has issued an immigration detainer for Mr. Pena Casilla. According to the agency, there will be a fee. But ICE said Dorchester District Court ignored the detainee and released him on bail with a GPS condition.
Deportation agents were able to arrest the illegal immigrant in the Boston area on December 17, and the agency says he remains in ERO custody.
Anxiety continues vote In December, the Boston City Council reaffirmed the city’s sanctuary status, which largely prohibits local police from assisting or cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu also further strengthened enforcement of the city’s sanctuary laws in November, following President Trump’s election victory.
The backlash in Boston comes despite Mr. Trump winning the popular vote, winning the presidential election by a landslide, running on a platform of support for border security, and giving him a mandate to follow through on his campaign promises. Republicans have vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history and reintroduce many Trump-era border policies as soon as they take office.
Tom Homan, the former acting ICE director who was tapped to lead President Trump’s mass deportation operation, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that he prioritized criminals and other threats to public safety. He said he would start by “starting with the worst.” But he also made it clear that anyone who is in the United States illegally is subject to deportation.
There is ongoing debate about whether the entire state of Massachusetts is a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.
Organizations like the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for stricter immigration laws, label massachusetts It points to a 2017 court decision that prohibited local officials from arresting and detaining individuals solely based on immigration status. But Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat who has been forced to deal with the immigration crisis since taking office, recently argued that Massachusetts is not a sanctuary.
“We are not a sanctuary nation,” Healey told the Boston Herald in December. “With limited budgets, our emergency shelter system was designed to serve Massachusetts families facing homelessness and housing instability who are in need of temporary shelter.”
In response, ICE officials suggested that Massachusetts authorities could do a better job of notifying authorities when releasing criminal immigrants from custody.
Massachusetts remains a hotbed for ICE operations against criminal immigrants. In September, the agency announced it had arrested four different illegal immigrants on Nantucket Island in just 48 hours, all of whom had been previously accused of sex crimes against children or other individuals. .
As with previous arrests of criminal immigrants in the state, authorities celebrated Pena-Casilla’s arrest as a victory for public safety.
“Today, another victim in Massachusetts no longer has to fear a predator,” Hyde said Thursday.
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