An El Salvadoran illegal immigrant wanted for allegedly sexually assaulting a child was apprehended by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Massachusetts after a local sheriff’s office disregarded a detainer to keep him.
Hugo Israel Ruiz, 55, was arrested on December 17 by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston on felony charges of indecent assault and battery on a minor under the age of 14, and he remains in prison for immigration and criminal procedures.
Ruiz was arrested by the Revere Police Department on August 22, and his case was heard in Chelsea District Court.
Despite an immigration detainer requesting that ICE be alerted of Ruiz’s release, the court granted bail and freed him from the Nashua Street Jail.
However, the sheriff’s office that runs the jail ignored the detainer and released Ruiz to the public without contacting ICE.
“ERO Boston will take every opportunity to identify, locate, and take into custody criminal noncitizens facing felony charges, and will keep them in custody until their criminal and immigration proceedings are resolved,” ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde stated. “Not only is this our mission, it is also the lawful thing to do.”
According to a statement from Sheriff Steve Thompkins, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department canceled its contract with ICE in October 2019 and instead elected to shift resources owing to an expanding population of women entering the Suffolk County House of Correction.
“We are ending our contract with ICE to reallocate our resources towards helping local women to address long-standing issues that have contributed to their involvement in the criminal justice system,” said Tompkins in a statement. “Our gender-specific programming, which is among the best in the country, allows us to address these issues, which include domestic violence, sexual exploitation, and substance use disorders, to name a few.”
The statement, which appears on his campaign website, stated that the deal with ICE to house federal immigration detainees was inked in 2003. The then-acting director of ICE ERO Boston stated that the agency was disappointed by the sheriff’s decision after a “mutually beneficial” cooperation spanning more than ten years.
The latest arrest comes as Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has stated that her state police will “absolutely not” cooperate with the incoming Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts, warning that she will use “every tool in the toolbox” to “protect” residents in the blue state.
President-elect Trump has promised to start the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history” to remove millions of illegal immigrants. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) predicted that 50,000 migrants had come to the state in 2021.
“I believe we all must understand that there will be a lot of pressure on states and their politicians. “I can assure you that we will work hard to deliver,” Healey declared after President-elect Trump’s landslide victory last month.
Last year, Healey proclaimed a state of emergency in response to the influx and urged federal intervention. She also recognized that the state’s measures may attract immigration.
“Many of these families are immigrants to Massachusetts, drawn here because we are and have proudly been a beacon to those in need,” she wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
