ERO Boston arrests Portuguese national convicted of sex crimes against Massachusetts child

BOSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested a Portuguese national convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. Deportation officers from ERO Boston apprehended the 69-year-old Portuguese national Jan. 19 at the Bristol Police Department in Bristol, Rhode Island.

“This Portuguese national sexually assaulted an innocent child and therefore forfeited his right to remain within the borders of this great nation,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons. “Any noncitizen who commits such a detestable act against the most vulnerable members of our population should be removed from our country. The men and women of the ERO Boston field office will work tirelessly to ensure that such predators are not allowed to victimize the residents of our New England communities.”

The Portuguese noncitizen entered the United States lawfully in December 2013.

The Fall River Police Department arrested him in March 2018 and charged him with indecent assault and battery on child under 14, assault and battery on a family member, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a person over 60/disabled.

The Fall River District Court convicted him of indecent assault and battery on child under 14, a felony child sexual abuse crime, in October 2023. He received a two-year suspended sentence. The conviction negated his legal right to reside in the United States.

The apprehension of this Portuguese sex offender represented one of five arrests that ERO Boston made as part of a recent national immigration enforcement effort. During this national effort, deportation officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ERO field offices across the United States arrested 171 unlawfully present noncitizens with pending charges or convictions for egregious crimes such as homicide, rape, assault or sexual assault against children. The nationwide law enforcement effort ran from Jan.16 to Jan. 28.

ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is a separate entity from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal.

In fiscal year 2023, ERO made 170,590 administrative arrests, a 19.5% increase over the previous year. ERO arrested 73,822 noncitizens with a criminal history; those arrested had an average of four charges and convictions per individual, including more than 33,209 charges or convictions for assault, 7,520 for weapons offenses, 1,713 for homicide-related offenses, and 1,615 for kidnapping. Removals also included 3,406 known or suspected gang members, 139 known or suspected terrorists, seven human rights violators, and 108 foreign fugitives wanted by their governments for crimes including homicide, rape, terrorism and kidnapping. Also in fiscal year 2023, ERO conducted 142,580 removals to more than 170 countries worldwide.

As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations and the repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.

Members of the public can report crime and suspicious activity by calling 866-347-2423 or completing the online tip form.

Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in your community on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EROBoston.

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.gov)