Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Dominican illegal immigrant charged with sex crimes and kidnapping in Boston after he was released from local custody despite the agency's extradition request.
ICE announced in a statement that it arrested 46-year-old Emilio Jose Pena-Casilla on charges of rape, kidnapping, indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years of age, assault, battery, and intimidation. Officials, witnesses, and jurors were arrested in Boston on December 17th.
Pena Casilla entered the United States illegally in January 2023 near Eagle Pass, Texas, and was enrolled in an alternative to detention program.
Under the program, migrants are monitored with GPS tracking devices or checked in via an app. He was removed from the program after a month.
He was arraigned in Massachusetts in July of this year.
ICE said Boston's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) took him into custody, but the district court ignored him and released him on GPS bail. ICE would eventually track him down in December.
“Emilio Jose Pena-Casilla is accused of several very serious crimes against Massachusetts residents,” ERO Boston Deputy Field Director Patricia Hyde said in a statement.
“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.
Today, another victim in Massachusetts no longer has to fear predators. ”
Boston is one of a number of “sanctuary” cities that limit or prohibit local police departments from working with ICE.
Supporters of sanctuary policies say they allow undocumented immigrants to cooperate with local law enforcement, but opponents say the policies put illegal immigrants who are criminals back on the streets. I am doing it.
The Boston City Council recently voted in favor of a resolution that strengthens sanctuary policies, limits cooperation with ICE, and prohibits police from detaining immigrants for deportation without a criminal warrant. Ta.
“The proposed mass deportation is a direct attack on Boston's immigrant families and threatens to tear our community apart,” the council's resolution states.
Sanctuary policies are back in the spotlight with the inauguration of the Trump administration, which has vowed to step up deportations and launch a historic operation to potentially remove millions of illegal immigrants.
Democratic officials in several states, including Massachusetts, said they would not cooperate with the deportation push.
President-elect Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, has suggested that those who stand in the way of the operation could face legal liability.
America First Legal recently told approximately 250 officials from jurisdictions that limit or prohibit cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE that there are legal consequences for interfering with the federal government or concealing illegal immigration. It was advised that this could lead to.
“We have identified your jurisdiction as a sanctuary jurisdiction in violation of federal law.
These illegal activities place you and your employees at significant risk of criminal and civil liability.
Therefore, we are writing to inform you of this risk and urge you to abide by our laws,” the letter reads.
