ICE Descends on Boston in Major Sweep After Mayor Says She Won’t Cooperate

Over 370 illegal immigrants were arrested by federal agents in Massachusetts last week after Boston’s Mayor said she would continue to enforce the area’s sanctuary laws.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), those arrested included alleged members of Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and other transnational criminal gangs, as well as those with charges of child sexual abuse and murder.

The targeted, five-day operation came after Mayor Michelle Wu repeated that local law enforcement would not aid the federal government in its immigration enforcement efforts, which border czar Tom Homan has criticized.

“I made a promise at CPAC that I was going to Boston after reading about numerous illegal alien child rapists walking the streets of Boston and Massachusetts,” Homan said on a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. “ICE had to find and arrest these illegal alien rapists because Massachusetts and Boston are sanctuaries that refuse to cooperate with ICE.

“They would rather release these animals back into the community rather than honor ICE detainers or notify ICE when they are scheduled to be released.”

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Among the 370 people arrested between March 18 and 23, 205 had “significant criminal convictions or charges”, ICE said Monday, including suspected gang members and those wanted for crimes in other countries.

A Chilean citizen accused of four indecent assaults and battery on a child under 14, a Brazilian accused of murder in his home country, and a Russian man accused of unlawful possession of ammunition and wanted in his native country for armed robbery and membership in a criminal organization were listed as some of the immigrants detained in communities across the state.

Some had detainers placed on them by ICE which had been ignored, the agency said.

As the operation was underway, Mayor Wu gave her third State of the City address on Wednesday, during which she repeated a vow to protect immigrants and vowed to not bow to the wishes of whoever was in charge in Washington, D.C.

The mayor made similar remarks when she testified to Congress earlier in the month, alongside sanctuary city mayors from New York City, Denver, and Chicago. At that hearing, Wu laid out how proud she was that Boston was a city of immigrants.

From ICE’s perspective, Massachusetts’ and Boston’s sanctuary policies have been a problem for several years now, with known illegal immigrant criminals released before federal agents can get to them. It has then been months before agents have been able to catch up with them.

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