ICE puts detainers on 3 area accused felons from Brazil
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have placed detainers on three Brazilian nationals in the United States illegally who have been either charged or convicted of felony-level crimes in the Greater Boston region.
First up is Lucas Vilaca Moreira Fontenelle, 21, who Framingham Police arrested on March 18, 2023, according to ICE’s Boston Enforcement and Removal Operations office. It is unknown when he first entered the country.
He was convicted that Dec. 11 in Framingham District Court of two counts of assault and battery attempt with a firearm and issued a suspended sentence of 2 ½ at the Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica. He also got a three months committed sentence for discharging a firearm.
The jailhouse told ERO Boston that Moreira Vilaca had been released without notification, despite ERO’s immigration detainer on him.
But it wouldn’t take long for Moreira Fontenelle to get arrested again, this time by the Milford PD on Jan. 16 on charges of masked armed robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy, and larceny over $1,200. ERO once again placed an ICE detainer on him as the case moves forward.
Next is Jonathan Lima De Araujo, 20, who ICE says entered the U.S. on May 1, 2021, when he was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol. They released him on bond under the condition that he check in with ICE, according to the agency.
A spokesperson for ERO Boston said the office got word that Milford Police arrested him on Jan. 18 on “various felony charges.” ERO issued a detainer order on him.
Third is Daniel Generoso Rodrigues, 26, who also entered the country at an unknown date, according to ICE, though he once had a run-in with Border Patrol. Information is sparse, but Milford Police also arrested him on felony-level charges and ERO placed a detainer order on him.
ERO was busy in the last fiscal year, as the Herald has previously reported. The office reports a nearly 20% increase in its arrests during fiscal year 2023, which saw a total of 170,590 arrests nationwide. Of those, the agency says 73,822 arrestees had a criminal history, averaging four charges and convictions per person.
An immigration detention database compiled and maintained by Syracuse University in New York reports that there were a total of 27,131 people in immigration detention on the final day of last year and that 66.8 of detainees have no criminal record, with more having only minor offenses on their criminal records.