ICE Boston Nabbed Illegal Immigrant Murderer the Same Week Healey Signed Protect Act

An illegal immigrant convicted in his home country of Brazil for murder was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Massachusetts the same week Gov. Maura Healey made law a bill that restricts the federal agency’s capabilities in the state.

ICE Boston tells the Herald that agents arrested Maycon Souto Dos Reis, wanted by Brazilian authorities for murder, for which he was convicted and sentenced to 14 years and three months in prison in that country. Brazilian officials issued an arrest warrant for Dos Reis on September 14, 2024.

It’s unclear if he had begun his sentence and escaped, or fled prior to the start of his sentence.

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ICE Boston says officers apprehended Dos Reis during “targeted operations” at Westborough District Court on August 3. Dos Reis was apprehended following his arraignment on charges stemming from his May 29 arrest in Southborough for allegedly driving without a license. ICE says the Southborough arrest put Dos Reis on the agency’s radar.

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The agency says Dos Reis entered the United States illegally on June 7, 2024, and was released into the country during the President Biden years.

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The apprehension of Dos Reis by ICE came just two days before Gov. Healey signed the Protect Act into law, which prohibits civil immigration arrests without a judicial warrant at schools, courthouses, childcare centers and medical facilities, among other state owned property.

It also requires all employers to notify any illegal immigrant employees ahead of a pending I-9 inspection by the Department of Homeland Security, and bans state and local law enforcement from entering into any new deputization agreements with federal immigration authorities, “except in narrow, criminal-law-focused arrangements that meet additional safeguards.”

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Prior to the signing ceremony, Healey called for ICE to “keep their vehicles out of Boston,” in response to media reports the agency is seeking 250 parking spots in the city. The plan, Healey said in a press release, is one “we absolutely cannot allow.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu echoed Healey’s call against ICE obtaining the parking spaces in her own statement.

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