Original Article By Bob Price
Federal immigration officers and law enforcement partners arrested more than 1,400 illegal alien offenders during a weeks-long enforcement blitz targeting violent criminals, gang members, and foreign fugitives hiding out across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Dubbed Operation Patriot 2.0, the surge ran from September 4 to September 30. The targeted enforcement action resulted in the apprehension of 1,406 illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, child sex predators, drug traffickers, and documented members of transnational gangs such as MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Trinitarios, and 18th Street.
“Patriot 2.0 exposed the grave consequences of sanctuary policies and the urgent need for local leaders to prioritize their constituents’ safety over politics,” said acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons. “Every illegal alien we arrested during the operation was breaking U.S. immigration law, and hundreds were violent criminals who should never have been allowed to roam freely in our communities. Local law enforcement agencies released them instead of handing them over to us in a secure environment, and this puts neighborhoods, law enforcement officers and illegal aliens at risk. Local politicians are responsible for protecting their constituents, so they need to step up and end irresponsible sanctuary policies.”
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New England led the operation in partnership with the FBI, CBP, ATF, DEA, DSS, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Officials report that more than 600 of the illegal aliens have significant criminal histories. The operation targeted egregious criminal alien offenders, including transnational criminal organizations known to operate in and around Boston and throughout Massachusetts. These organizations include the notorious MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Trinitarios, and 18th Street gangs. Six of those arrested were documented members of transnational criminal gangs. Several others were gang associates.
Among those arrested:
• 277 had defied federal removal orders
• 3 were known or suspected terrorists
• Multiple targets carried Interpol Red Notices or foreign arrest warrants
ICE officials say many arrests were made after local jurisdictions refused to honor immigration detainers, forcing agents to conduct dangerous at-large operations in residential communities.
Federal partners emphasized the operation’s success in dismantling criminal networks and restoring safety to Massachusetts communities.
During an exclusive interview with Director Lyons in September, the director described the revolving door afforded to criminal aliens in the Boston area — another prominent sanctuary city.
“I would always say, Hey, we’re the number three destination site for all new non-citizens coming to Massachusetts, because you have a place where you can get a driver’s license with no ID check, right?” Lyons explained. “You have places that if you were in proceedings with ice, you were eligible for hotels, food stipends. So there was that big draw.”
“During Operation Patriot, while we were conducting targeted enforcement, meaning that there were criminal alien targets that we were trying to focus on and arrest in the community in real time, there were still other criminal aliens being released,” the director continued. “So we ended up almost doubling the number of arrests just because while we were trying to go after the ones we had planned on arresting, the state of Massachusetts, all through the counties and cities that don’t work with us, were releasing criminal aliens in real time.”
“To me, that’s really highlighted the fact that ICE can go into a city, but we have to have the right amount of resources, because these sanctuary cities just don’t operate Monday through Friday, eight to five,” he said. “They’re releasing them at two, three in the morning, when they know ice isn’t around.”
All individuals detained during Operation Patriot 2.0 remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
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