Boston is among the blue cities seeing increased immigration enforcement this week as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vows to arrest “the worst of the worst” and push back in places that harbor illegal immigrants.
ICE launched Operation Patriot 2.0 to find and detain some of the worst criminal illegals living in the state of Massachusetts, and particularly in the sanctuary city of Boston.
ICE is arresting rapists, child abusers, drug traffickers and other violent thugs, said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Operation Patriot 2.0 follows the success of Operation Patriot in May, a monthlong surge that resulted in the arrests of nearly 1,500 illegal immigrants.
“Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but protect them at the peril of law-abiding American citizens,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, nowhere is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens. If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return.”
The state’s capital city has become a primary focus of the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, joining other Democratic-run cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles.
The immigration sweeps come as Boston Mayor Michelle Wu refuses to comply with federal immigration enforcement in the city amid an ongoing feud with Trump officials. Last week, the Department of Justice announced a lawsuit against Wu and the city of Boston, alleging that the Boston Trust Act, which prevents local police from cooperating with federal civil immigration enforcement, violates the Constitution.
Boston’s preliminary mayoral election also took place Tuesday night, with Wu earning 72% of the vote in her first reelection campaign, according to unofficial tallies updated around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday per MassLive.
In a news release, DHS shared some of the criminal illegal immigrants recently arrested by ICE agents in Boston:
- Victor Gomez-Perez, 33, Guatemala, with charges for aggravated rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, indecent assault and battery on a victim 14 years or older, and assault and battery on a police officer, and a conviction for assault.
- Kely Yohana Espinosa-Viana, 34, Colombia, with charges for aggravated assault on a pregnant victim.
- Brahian Valdez-Placencia, 31, Dominican Republic, with pending charges for armed robbery, assault and battery, strangulation/suffocation, and violation of a court order.
- Joshua Gonzalez Baez, 24, Dominican Republic, with pending charges for trafficking heroin/morphine/opium, resisting officer, disorderly conduct, and drug distribution.
- Samuel Armando Barrera-Hernandez, 20, Guatemala, with pending charges for assault and battery on a child.
- Noe Feliciano Garcia-Majia, 38, Guatemala, with previous arrests for strangulation/suffocation, assault batter with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a family member.
- Paulo Lima Borges, 39, Cape Verde, with convictions for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute heroin.
Border Czar Tom Homan has repeatedly criticized Massachusetts leaders for their anti-ICE rhetoric. On Tuesday, while speaking to the media, he accused Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Wu, both Democrats, of spreading false information about ICE agents.
Homan accused Healey of telling “a bold-faced lie” about ICE conducting operations at churches during the interview.
“Shame on Gov. Healey and Mayor Wu,” Homan said, per WCVB. “Shame on both of them. They should be calling the White House thanking Trump, thanking ICE for making the community safer. Instead, they go on TV and lie about ICE and make these accusations.”
DHS highlighted the blue state blitzes, including Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, on social media:
“It is DISGUSTING that @GovPritzker chooses to fight for the criminal illegal aliens in Chicago instead of his American constituents. Under the leadership of @POTUS Trump and @Sec_Noem DHS will continue to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago, Boston, L.A. and across the country.”
In other news clips posted Saturday by ICE on social media, acting ICE Boston Field Office Director David Wesling suggested the operation is targeting dozens of individuals.
“Looking at the individuals arrested by Boston Police Department that are actionable cases for us, people that we have tried to take into custody, we lodged detainers with and wanted to arrest, we have 71 individuals that are out there, out and about in the communities now that we still haven’t been able to locate,” Wesling said.
Fox News Digital reported that Wu said the city has received no official information about the operation. She claimed the raids don’t make the community safer and the city “could take legal action” if it finds federal law enforcement isn’t following local, state or federal laws.
“As ordered in the Boston Trust Act, no Boston police or local resources will be co-opted into federal immigration enforcement and their mass deportation agenda,” Wu said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Massachusetts authorities are also subject to a 2017 ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court that found the state law “provides no authority for Massachusetts court officers to arrest and hold an individual solely on the basis of a Federal civil immigration detainer,” local outlet WCVB-TV 5 News reported.
Both Wu and Josh Kraft, her top challenger in the 2025 mayoral election, fellow Democrat and son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, have criticized the administration’s immigration tactics.
During a Sunday interview on MSNBC, Healey called the latest ICE operation “political theater.” She refuted the federal government’s description of Massachusetts as a sanctuary state and repeated the usual Democratic talking points that the Trump administration’s show of force is “designed to spread intimidation and fear,” per WCVB-TV.
