Noem blasts Wu after ICE arrest in Lawrence of man accused of 20 sex crimes against Mass. child
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem blasted Boston's mayor about sanctuary city policies after federal authorities arrested an Ecuadoran man who is accused of more than 20 sex crimes against a Massachusetts child.
'Does Boston's Mayor Michelle Wu think these pedophiles are above the law? Imagine what our ICE officers could do without Sanctuary City policies that protect illegal alien criminals including child predators, murders, and rapists,' Noem said in a recent post on X.
Her post came after federal officers arrested an Ecuadoran national charged with more than 20 sex crimes against a Massachusetts child, more than four years after a local court released him on bail despite authorities lodging an immigration detainer, federal officials said.
Gilberto Avila-Jara, 64, of Ecuador, who is in the United States illegally, was arrested in Lawrence on April 1, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a statement on Friday. Officers with ICE Boston and agents from DEA New England and ATF Boston made the arrest.
'There are no appropriate words to describe the amount of damage Gilberto Avila-Jara has allegedly done to our Massachusetts community,' ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde said in a statement. 'Children are the most precious and most vulnerable members of our communities, and we will do everything in our power to protect them from illegal sex offenders.'
On Dec. 18, 2020, Avila-Jara was arraigned in Lawrence District Court for more than 20 offenses including indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, rape of a child with force and aggravated statutory rape of a child, Hyde said.
Later that day, ICE Boston lodged an immigration detainer against Avila-Jara with Lawrence Police.
However, the Lawrence District Court refused to honor the ICE detainer and released Avila-Jara on bail on March 17, 2021, Hyde said.
Massachusetts Court officials do not have the authority to hold an individual in custody solely on the basis of a Federal Civil Immigration Detainer, Massachusetts Trial Courts spokesperson Jennifer Donahue said in a statement on Monday, when contacted about Avila-Jara's release.
'In order to comply with Massachusetts law, court officers are prohibited from assisting or interfering with ICE agents in executing their obligations under Federal law,' Donahue said. 'That means that a court officer will not interfere with ICE arresting an individual who has been released. On the other hand, court officers are prohibited from keeping a released individual in custody awaiting an ICE agent.'
On April 22, 2021, the Essex County Superior Court arraigned Avila-Jara for six counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, eight counts of rape of a child with force and eight counts of aggravated statutory rape of a child.
Avila-Jara illegally entered the United States near San Ysidro, California on Feb. 10, 1996, without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official, Hyde said.
Officers with the Immigration and Naturalization Service apprehended Avila-Jara on March 2, 1996 at the Los Angeles International Airport.
On March 11, 1996, a Justice Department immigration judge ordered Avila-Jara removed from the United States back to Ecuador.
Immigration and Naturalization Service removed Avila-Jara from the United States to Ecuador on July 2, 1996, Hyde said.
Avila-Jara then illegally reentered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location and without being inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. immigration official, Hyde said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
30 minutes ago
- New York Times
Immigration Raids Add to Absence Crisis for Schools
As President Trump promised mass deportations, educators sounded alarms that the actions could scare families away from school, affecting both immigrant and nonimmigrant students. Now, new research provides evidence that immigration raids did appear to lower school attendance. A Stanford University study found that parents kept their children out of school more often after raids swept California's Central Valley this winter. The findings suggest raids can harm student achievement and disrupt how schools function, even when they do not occur on or near school grounds. The study, by Thomas S. Dee, a professor of education at Stanford University, found that daily absences jumped 22 percent around the time raids occurred. This week, the administration deployed troops to Los Angeles in response to protests against deportations. Absences went up, even though the district tried to reassure families that schools were safe. The new paper looked at attendance data from five school districts in the southern part of the Central Valley, serving a total of over 100,000 children. Public schools do not track immigration status. But a majority of students in the region are Latino, many the children of farm workers with uncertain legal status. Those workers help produce about a quarter of the nation's food — fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts. Professor Dee examined three years of attendance data. He found an unusual spike in absences this past January and February following 'Operation Return to Sender,' a series of immigration sweeps conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'Openly Admitting': Critics Rip Trump For 'Dehumanizing' Sunday Night Announcement
Critics are calling out President Donald Trump for a divisive Sunday night announcement that law enforcement would target migrants in cities at 'the core of the Democrat Power Center.' Trump said on Truth Social that he was ordering U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct 'the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.' He wrote that he was expanding operations in the nation's biggest cities, including Los Angeles ― where he has already sent the military to contend with recurring protests against his immigration policies ― as well as Chicago and New York. 'These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens,' Trump claimed. 'These Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country, and actually want to destroy our Inner Cities — And they are doing a good job of it! There is something wrong with them.' The president's rant came just one day after a gunman shot and killed a Democratic lawmaker and her husband, shot and wounded another Democratic lawmaker and his wife, and reportedly had a manifesto targeting 'many lawmakers and other officials.' The president's critics fired back:
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Los Angeles curfew to continue for 'couple more days': mayor
A nightly curfew in Los Angeles will continue for "a couple more days," Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday, the ninth day of protests that have seen US President Donald Trump launch a military-backed crackdown. Demonstrators began protesting on June 6 against immigration raids launched by the Trump administration to round up undocumented migrants in the heavily Latino city in Democrat-led California. The rallies have been mostly peaceful and confined to a small area of Downtown Los Angeles, but marred by sporadic and eye-catching violence which Republican Trump has used as a pretext to send in 4,000 National Guard and 700 Marines. The extraordinary deployment came over the protests of local officials who have insisted that the situation was under control. Bass issued an overnight curfew on June 10 on the downtown area at the heart of the protests to stop incidents of vandalism and looting. On Sunday she said she is hoping that the number of people behind the violent incidents "will taper off". "So I know the curfew will be on for at least a couple more days," she said in a televised interview with local news channel KTLA, adding that she cannot predict how many more days exactly. "We don't know how many raids are going to happen, we don't know what the character of the raids will be, and every time that happens it really generates a lot of anger in the city," she said. Trump, seeminly unfazed by the protests, on Sunday directed federal authorities to ramp up their deportation efforts, including in Los Angeles. Bass noted the anger and fear that the raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency have generated in Los Angeles. "People are afraid to leave their homes," she said, adding that raids have at times felt "indiscriminate." "This is the United States. You are not supposed to have to show your papers if you go out in public," she said. "It's hard for me to believe it's targeted." Trump said on social media that ICE agents had been subjected to "violence, harassment and even threats" and ordered them to "do all in their power" to effect mass deportations. Los Angeles was mostly calm on Sunday after a massive rally and march a day earlier -- part of the "No Kings" series of anti-Trump protests across the country -- saw thousands of people turn out to condemn the raids and the military crackdown. A small group of demonstrators marched around City Hall during the sunny afternoon under the watchful eye of law enforcement, including several woman clad in bikinis carrying signs with slogans including "Hot Girl Summer Melt ICE". bur-st/dhw
