The Haitian gang member who has become the face of President Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown continued to commit crimes after a local correctional facility reportedly released him without honoring a federal immigration detainer.

Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston (ERO) under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has provided details on an illegally present 25-year-old Haitian national, Wisteguens Jean Quely Charles, whom ICE agents arrested on Wednesday in their first raid of the Boston area under the new Trump administration.

Fox News, following ICE along in the raid, caught Charles shouting to  arresting officers that he “ain’t going back to Haiti” and “(expletive) Trump, Biden forever!” He also thanked former President Barack Obama.

Charles, convicted more than a dozen times before being taken into custody on Wednesday, is said to have entered the U.S. lawfully in July 2013 in Miami, according to a release ERO Boston issued on Friday. But he subsequently violated the terms of his lawful admission, the agency stated.

The Haitian gang member went on a crime spree starting in August 2022 and ending last August, being arrested, charged and convicted 17 times. Months later, ERO officers encountered Charles following one of his slew of arrests in April 2023, issuing an immigration detainer with the Norfolk House of Corrections.

ERO said the facility failed to honor the request, releasing Charles in October 2023.

“Mr. Charles illegally entered the United States and has consistently broken our laws causing significant harm to the residents of Massachusetts,” acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde said in a statement Friday. “ERO Boston will not tolerate the repeated victimization of our New England neighborhoods. We will continue our mission to apprehend such illegal alien offenders and remove them from our communities.”

Charles’ convictions include both possession and distribution of controlled substances, trespassing, carrying a dangerous weapon to wit brass knuckles, possession of a firearm without a permit and possession of ammunition without a permit, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, and resisting arrest.

ERO Boston officers issued Charles a notice to appear before a federal immigration judge and remains in ICE custody after his arrest Wednesday.

The Norfolk County Sherrif’s Office did not immediately respond to a Herald request for comment on Friday.

MassGOP spokesperson Logan Trupiano told the Herald deporting illegal immigrant criminals is about public safety, a matter that he believes “shouldn’t be controversial.” He accused Democrats of “vilifying” ICE.

“If a Massachusetts-born resident were arrested for crimes involving drugs, weapons, and assault and battery,” Trupiano said, “they would never be granted the same leniency as this illegal immigrant, who was free to walk the streets and continue committing violent crimes. It seems as though illegal immigrants who commit crimes have been treated as a protected class in Massachusetts.”

Some of Trump’s top officials celebrated Charles’ arrest as Fox News’ footage went viral on Thursday.

“An illegal alien with 17 criminal convictions really hates President Trump for sending him back to Haiti,” Vice President JD Vance said in an X post on Thursday. “He’s grateful to Biden for letting him come here. I’m glad we’re deporting him. Do you agree or would you like him as your neighbor?”

Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, has said ICE agents are targeting illegal immigrant criminals.

At the same time, fears have also intensified for some families worried about sending their children to school.

American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts President Jessica Tang and Boston Teachers Union President Erik Berg said in a statement Friday evening saying children can’t learn if the “don’t feel safe.”

They added, in part: “Educators across the state and nation are ready to stand up and defend the rights and safety of their students. … As educators, we are focused on justice and equal opportunities for all students. We know firsthand that children cannot learn if they don’t feel safe. These threats take an emotional, psychological, and physical toll on our children and their families. If continued, they will have a chilling effect on our schools and communities.”

The Trump administration announced on the president’s first full day back in office it would allow federal immigration agencies to make arrests at schools, churches and hospitals, ending a policy that had been in effect since 2011.

In many districts, educators have sought to reassure immigrant parents that schools are safe places for their kids, despite the president’s campaign pledge to carry out mass deportations.

Somerville City Council President Judy Pineda Neufeld highlighted her fears Thursday night, detailing how an hour before the council met she received a text message from a close friend who works with youth in Somerville about an event at the high school.

The friend, Neufeld said, asked her to check an “unmarked van” that was sitting outside, with “students … afraid to leave, they thought this was an ICE van.”

“This is happening today in our communities. Our youth are afraid,” Neufeld said. “For families, for children, for teachers … a reminder that our public schools don’t ask for families’ immigration status, our public schools don’t coordinate with ICE.”

Fitchburg Superintendent Jon Thompson sent a letter Thursday to families highlighting how the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will be providing districts with an overview of legal resources for immigrants and guidance for interaction with immigration officers early next week.

The Trump administration announced Friday that it is expanding a fast-track deportation authority nationwide, allowing immigration officers to deport migrants without appearing before a judge as the president seeks to make good on a sweeping agenda of removing everyone who is in the U.S. illegally.

Hundreds of illegal immigrant criminals across the US were arrested Thursday, while hundreds of others were flown out of the country on military aircraft, the White House said.

“The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in an X post late Thursday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report