ICE continued its crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants in the Boston area when it arrested a Chinese national wanted for both white-collar crimes and drug trafficking in her home country.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston field office director highlighted that the Needham Police Department’s help in apprehending “foreign fugitive and criminal alien underscores the importance of our collaboration with local law enforcement to safeguard public safety and uphold the integrity of our immigration system.”
ERO agents and Needham Police officers arrested the “criminal alien,” whose name has not been released and whose publicly released arrest photo is blurred, on Jan. 23 during what ERO says was a “targeted enforcement action.”
The Chinese national entered the United States as a temporary visitor in May 2019 and was required to leave three months later but did not, according to an ERO statement. She is wanted in China for embezzlement, criminal conversion, fraud, and felony drug trafficking. The woman will remain in ERO custody until she is removed from the country.
“ERO Boston’s successful apprehension of this fugitive highlights our ongoing commitment to enforcing immigration laws and protecting U.S. communities,” Hyde said. “We will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing any criminal alien who attempts to remain in our New England neighborhoods in an effort to evade criminal prosecution.”
The announcement of the arrest coincides with the sentencing in federal court of an El Salvadoran man living in Chelsea for illegal reentry into the USA.
U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin sentenced Benancio Martinez-Diaz, 38, to four months in prison. Martinez-Diaz will then be subject to deportation following his sentence.
Martinez-Diaz pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful reentry in October following indictment on the charge last July. Federal prosecutors say that Martinez-Diaz was removed from the U.S. on five occasions between 2006 and 2014.