ICE arrests Brazilian man arrested for child rape

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Tuesday that officers from its Boston office arrested 24-year-old Warley Neto on Aug. 23.

“Warley Neto allegedly assaulted a child multiple times in Massachusetts and poses a serious threat to the safety of our neighborhoods,” Todd M. Lyons, director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston, said in a statement.

Neto was detained by the Border Patrol after he illegally entered the United States from Mexico near Paso Del Norte in El Paso, Texas, on March 11, 2018. He was released from Border Patrol custody the next day and ordered to report to an immigration judge, who allowed him to remain in the country.

Neto was first located by police in Edgartown, Massachusetts, in February 2023 after assaulting members of his household. He was convicted of strangulation or choking, assault and battery on a household member, and threatening to commit a crime in June 2023 and sentenced to one year in prison, but only served three months.

In January, Tisbury, Massachusetts, police arrested Neto on a warrant for five counts of rape of a child and five counts of enticing a minor under the age of 16. Neto was later charged in Dukes County Superior Court.

The arrest was a rare case in New England, given that local police typically do not cooperate with federal police under a “sanctuary” policy that prohibits the two entities from working together. Many New England cities and towns have passed municipal ordinances that prevent police from cooperating with federal immigration officers in almost all circumstances.

Lyons said that in this situation, ICE was grateful that Dukes County Superior Court in Edgartown allowed the federal agency to take custody of Neto while he was released from the Dukes County Sheriff’s Office, rather than having federal officers re-arrest him upon his return to the community.

“Too often, local authorities refuse to honor immigration detainees and release dangerous criminals back into the community to re-offend,” said Lyons, who added that ICE is focused on arresting “the most egregious non-citizen New England offenders.”

ICE asked local police to hold Neto for up to 48 hours before he could be transferred to federal custody, a request they granted.

In recent weeks, ICE has increasingly arrested serious criminals accused of violent crimes after they were released at the border under President Joe Biden.

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Traditionally, illegal immigrants arrested by ICE in the U.S. are people wanted in their home country for serious crimes or people who have been in the U.S. for many years and have committed crimes of varying severity, such as drunk driving or robbery.

Since August, ICE has focused more on arresting people with criminal records who entered the U.S. during Biden’s term, rather than arresting people who entered the country before his presidency in 2021.