An illegal immigrant residing in Massachusetts was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) near his residence Wednesday in connection with the murder of a child in his home country of Brazil.
The international fugitive, 52-year-old Antonio Dos Santos, was arrested for federal immigration violations near his home in Plymouth, Massachusetts, an ICE spokesperson told Boston 25 News.
JUST IN: Man wanted for murder of child in Brazil arrested in Plymouth, ICE says https://t.co/yuVKUzyz3m
— Boston 25 News (@boston25) October 20, 2023
Dos Santos was unlawfully present in the United States, having illegally crossed the southern border years ago near San Luis, Arizona — where he was apprehended and processed by border patrol agents, Boston 25 News reported.
By June of 2021, Dos Santos was released by federal immigration officials “on his own recognizance,” according to the outlet. (RELATED: ICE Detention Centers Have Thousands Of Empty Beds Despite Record Illegal Immigration)
Around the same time of his release, officials from the Brazilian town of Mogi Das Cruzes labeled him as a wanted man for the aggravated murder of a child less than 14-years of age, but it was not until early October of this year that an ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations (ERO) field office in Boston got wind of the fact that the Brazilian authorities were seeking out Dos Santos, per the outlet. (RELATED: ‘Erroneous’: ICE Wasted Over $1 Million On Contracts To Transport Illegal Aliens, Gov’t Watchdog Says)
Border Patrol saw a new surge in illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border in September that marked a new record for the agency, according to internal agency data exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. https://t.co/WQezI27oQp
— Jeffrey A. Setaro (@jasetaro) October 19, 2023
Over the summer, Dos Santos failed to report to federal immigration officials despite having a legal obligation to do so, per Boston 25 News.
ERO agents from the Boston office to arrest the Brazilian national without incident, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Man Accused Of Murdering Five ‘Execution Style’ Was Previously-Deported Illegal Immigrant, ICE Says)
Dos Santos will remain in custody and is poised to undergo extradition back to his homeland, where he faces criminal charges, according to Boston 25 News.