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May 9, 2023Boston, MA, United StatesEnforcement and Removal

ERO Boston arrests Dominican national charged with possession and intent to distribute narcotics

BOSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested a citizen of the Dominican Republic May 3 in Quincy, Massachusetts. The foreign national, who is facing local criminal charges of possession with intent to distribute narcotics, was previously removed from the U.S. three times for unlawfully entering the country.

“Suspected drug dealers and those with a history of unlawful entry into the U.S. are a very real and present threat to the public safety of our citizens,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons. “ERO Boston will continue to work to make our streets safer by seeking out those who repeatedly violate our immigration laws and who pose a threat to the security of our communities.”

The Dominican national, who was previously convicted locally on dangerous weapons possession and identity theft charges, unlawfully entered the United States before 2011. An immigration judge from the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) ordered him to depart the country in 2013 and he was removed to his native country in June 2016. He unlawfully entered the U.S. a second time in 2017 and was removed in September 2017.

At some point after September 2017, he unlawfully reentered the United States and was removed for a third time in January 2019. After January 2019, he again unlawfully entered the United States. After taking him into custody, ERO Boston provided the Dominican native notice of the reinstatement of his prior removal order with the intent to seek his removal again.

Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Justice Department’s EOIR. EOIR is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal. Once a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or other lawful means, ICE officers may carry out the removal.

ERO officers make enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis in a professional and responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement officials and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.

As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.

In fiscal year 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens with criminal histories. This group had 198,498 associated charges and convictions, including 21,531 assault offenses; 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses; 5,554 weapons offenses; 1,501 homicide-related offenses; and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.

For more news and information on how the ERO Boston field office carries out its immigration enforcement mission, follow us on Twitter @EROBoston.

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