ICE arrests more than 1,400 in Massachusetts in September immigration crackdown
By , Mike Toole
Operation Patriot 2.0, as the agency called it, was run from September 4th to 30th. It said more than 1,461 people were taken into custody in the first Operation Patriot in the state, back in May.
From a total of 1,406 undocumented people detained in Massachusetts last month, more than 600 had “significant criminal convictions or pending criminal charges for crimes committed in the United States or were known foreign fugitives,” ICE said in a statement released on Thursday.
“Six of those arrested were documented members of transnational criminal gangs while several others were gang associates,” the statement said. “Three of those arrested were known or suspected terrorists.”
ICE arrests in Massachusetts
Among those arrested, according to ICE, were 24-year-old Anderson Stephen Hernandez-Vasquez of Guatemala, who served two years in prison in Woburn for child rape.
Mario Augusto Lopes-Barros, a 42-year-old citizen of Cape Verde, who served time for voluntary manslaughter in Bristol County, and 29-year-old Welington Aristy of the Dominican Republic, who was wanted for possession of fentanyl and other drugs in Massachusetts, were also detained, ICE said.
However, WBZ-TV found that at least some of those arrested in Massachusetts in September had no record of having committed violent or other crimes.
They include Jhon Palacio-Morales of Lowell, who was wrongfully arrested outside his home on September 8, according to his partner. His family said he has no criminal history and was legally allowed to enter the U.S. from Columbia in 2022. But ICE said Palacio-Morales “is an illegal alien” who “unlawfully entered the United States.”
Edgar Hernan Elias Escobar, who was taken into custody on September 17 in Malden, also has no criminal record, according to his attorney, who added that his client has a pending petition to become a permanent U.S. resident. Escobar’s family said Friday afternoon he was released on bond on October 11.
WBZ has reached out to ICE’s Boston office for comment on both cases but has not heard back yet.
In another case, involving a 16-year-old ICE took into custody in Milford on September 12, the agency later acknowledged that it didn’t know his age and ultimately drove the teen back home and released him.
WBZ has also reached out to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for comments on ICE’s announcement. Both have been critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
When Patriot 2.0 launched last month, both spoke out against it.
“Boston is going to continue to uphold the Boston Trust Act, our state law, and the clear separation where our local officials and our city government does not cooperate in the mass deportation efforts that this federal administration is trying to push,” Wu said on September 8.