Thread: Immigration fugitives a greater focus for ICE

Immigration fugitives a greater focus for ICE
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By Liz Mineo/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Dec 03, 2008 @ 10:00 AM

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The arrests of two women on Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrants on Sunday highlight the increasing efforts by the federal agency to take action against people who have been ordered deported but failed to leave the country.

The women, Flaviane Aldria Levindo-Morais, 23, and Estael Fernandes Gomes, 29, both of Framingham, had been previously ordered deported by ICE but remained in the country illegally, said Paula Grenier, a spokeswoman for the agency in Boston.

Grenier said the arrests were made by members of ICE's fugitive operations program.

"It's part of our initiative to reduce illegal migration," said Grenier. "We are working to reduce the number of immigration fugitives, those who remain in the country in violation of order of removals."

Created in 2003 to reduce the backlog of fugitives, ICE's fugitive program has proven effective, records show. For many years, the number of fugitives grew until September, when it experienced a huge drop, which ICE called a "historic reversal of the continuous growth trend in fugitive cases from previous years."

The number of backlogged fugitive alien cases decreased from 597,000 at the beginning of fiscal 2008 to 560,000 at the end of the year.

Why? ICE officials would point to an increase in arrests.

Mirroring what's happening nationwide, the numbers of fugitive arrests are increasing locally. In fiscal 2008, Boston ICE agents arrested more than 1,900 people, a 30 percent increase over the previous year. Nationwide, nearly 34,000 arrests were made as part of the initiative.

There are five ICE fugitive teams in New England, and often local police contact them when they identify immigration fugitives, Grenier said.

Such was the case with Levindo-Morais, who was detained at Macy's at Natick Collection after security guards noticed she was concealing merchandise in her baby daughter's carriage.

At the Natick police station, the woman gave a false name. After booking her, police were able to identify her through the Live Scan system, which links police with a federal database, said Natick Lt. Brian Grassey.

"Live Scan revealed her real name and that she had previously been ordered deported," said Grassey. "We called ICE."

When ICE agents were interviewing Levindo-Morais, Grassey said, Gomes came to the station to bail out her friend. ICE agents went to talk to Gomes, who was found to have an ICE warrant as well, he said.

Both Levindo-Morais and Gomes showed up at Natick District Court Monday. They have been released from custody on orders of court supervision, said Grenier.

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Both Levindo-Morais and Gomes showed up at Natick District Court Monday. They have been released from custody on orders of court supervision, said Grenier.

This makes absolutely no sense. Why have these two women been released from custody? They have already shown that they can't be trusted! Why are they getting another chance to run?

Catch & release obviously remains alive and well. Didn't Secretary Chertoff say (a while back) that 'catch & release' would no longer be utilized when dealing with apprehended illegals?