{"id":1497365,"date":"2024-10-20T12:10:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T16:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1497365"},"modified":"2024-10-20T12:10:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-20T16:10:00","slug":"nantucket-residents-rattled-by-arrest-of-5-illegal-immigrants-for-violent-sex-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/nantucket-residents-rattled-by-arrest-of-5-illegal-immigrants-for-violent-sex-crimes\/1497365\/","title":{"rendered":"Nantucket Residents Rattled By Arrest Of 5 Illegal Immigrants For Violent Sex Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nantucket Residents Rattled By Arrest Of 5 Illegal Immigrants For Violent Sex Crimes<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

The 30-mile journey by high-speed ferry from Hynannis to Nantucket Island takes about an hour over idyllic waters off the geographic elbow of Cape Cod in Massachusetts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

About 50 Venezuelans who crossed the U.S. border illegally are at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in Massachusetts on Sept. 14, 2022, after being flown there by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Ray Ewing\/Vineyard Gazette via Reuters<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Nantucket Harbor in early October is as pretty as an autumn postcard as the boat pulls into the slip<\/strong>. A line of passengers disembarks, many of them with satchels, duffel bags, and rolling suitcases, to board taxis in the parking lot.<\/p>\n

The famed cobblestone streets, restaurants, shops, and art galleries in the town center begin to fill up at 11 a.m., even as the tourist season winds down.<\/p>\n

Nantucket Island<\/a> is still at its finest with turning leaves and colonial charm.<\/strong> It is a place where homes sell for millions and pristine beaches draw thousands each year. It is both a town, a county, and a voting district.<\/p>\n

Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, and Jennifer Lopez own property here. The island peaks at more than 80,000 visitors in July and August, but the number drops to 14,000 permanent residents in the off-season.<\/p>\n

Some residents consider Nantucket Island their tiny paradise and the last place you would expect to see the illegal immigration crisis play out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

September was an especially tough month for the community, as federal agents arrested five undocumented male immigrants on charges related to violence and sex crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are getting really tired of it,\u201d said Toby Brown, chairman of the Nantucket Republican Town Committee of illegal immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cNantucket is a very liberal island. Many want to say it was only five people\u2014but it\u2019s not. It\u2019s way more than five. If there\u2019s five, you know there\u2019s going to be 10<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said many Nantucket Island residents were surprised when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived in early September to make the arrests.<\/p>\n

Many people refuse to talk about the arrests or the illegal immigration problem because they are afraid of being called racist, he said.<\/p>\n

All five men had entered the country illegally and settled on Nantucket Island under the state\u2019s radar; most had been arrested on sex charges early this year and were out on bail or personal recognizance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Sept. 12, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston officers arrested Angel Gabriel Deras-Mejia, 30, a known MS-13 gang member from El Salvador in Nantucket.<\/p>\n

Nantucket Harbor in Nantucket, Mass., on Oct. 2, 2024. Allan Stein\/The Epoch Times<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Local police arrested Deras-Mejia on two counts of assault and battery against a household member and disorderly conduct stemming from incidents on July 21 and Aug. 24.<\/p>\n

Deras-Mejia unlawfully entered the United States, \u201cthen made his way to Massachusetts, to apparently commit crimes of violence,\u201d according to ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make matters worse, Deras-Mejia is a documented member of a notorious transnational criminal organization (MS-13) and represents a significant threat to the residents of Nantucket.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lyons said that Deras-Mejia entered the country \u201con an unknown date, at an unknown location, without being inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.\u201d<\/p>\n

Felix Alberto Perez-Gomez, 41, from Guatemala, is charged with indecent assault and battery on a person age 14 or over; Elmer Sola, 49, from El Salvador, is charged with 11 sex offenses against a child;<\/strong> Gean Do Amaral Belafronte, 30, who is from Brazil, is charged with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over; and Bryan Daniel Aladana-Arevalo, 28, a Salvadoran, is charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Figueroa Vega, 30, immigration status unknown, is being held on $100,000 bail on two counts of aggravated rape of a child with a five-year difference.<\/strong> Local police say the incidents allegedly occurred on July 23 and 25 at a Nantucket residence.<\/p>\n

Dialog Lacking<\/h2>\n

Brown said the arrests have put a bad spotlight on Nantucket Island as a community dealing with violent crime due to illegal immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t run away from it. We can\u2019t be afraid to talk about real issues in our community with the fear of being considered bad [people],\u201d Brown told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy message is clear: it\u2019s about keeping our community safe.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brown said the problem starts at the federal level, that the open borders policy of the Biden administration has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to enter the country illegally and without being checked.<\/p>\n

In a March 13 letter<\/a> to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), ICE said it had 662,556 \u201cnoncitizens with a criminal history\u201d on its national list.<\/p>\n

Of those, 435,719 are convicted criminals and 226,847 have criminal charges pending, ICE said.<\/p>\n

The American Immigration Council, a pro-immigration advocacy group, disagrees with claims that illegal immigration brings crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scapegoating of ethnic and religious minorities is well-trod historical ground in the United States, and immigrants have always made for an easy target,<\/strong>\u201d the organization said on its website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, some politicians are peddling the same, tired myth, this time of a \u2019migrant crime surge’ among immigrants who recently arrived in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group added that a \u201crobust body of research shows that welcoming immigrants into American communities … does not increase crime, but can actually strengthen public safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, immigrants\u2014including undocumented immigrants\u2014are less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born. This is true at the national, state, county, and neighborhood levels, and for both violent and non-violent crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization said that even though the immigrant population had more than doubled to 13.9 percent since 1980, the crime rate had dropped by 60 percent to 2,335 crimes per 100,000 people by 2022.<\/p>\n

\u2018Enabling Immigrant Crime\u2019<\/h2>\n

Brown said he thinks that Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, who is a Democrat, has enabled illegal immigrants,<\/strong> some with criminal backgrounds, to seek sanctuary in the Bay State and costing taxpayers billions to support them.<\/p>\n

ERO Boston jumped into action in September, making a number of arrests, including a 50-year-old Salvadoran man in Tisbury, Massachusetts, wanted by authorities in El Salvador for \u201ccrimes against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Salvadoran fugitive is wanted by authorities in his native country to face some extremely serious and disturbing allegations,\u201d said ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe attempted to hide out in Massachusetts and escape the law in his home country. He posed a substantial threat to the residents of Martha\u2019s Vineyard.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety in all of our New England communities by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Salvadoran fugitive was initially apprehended on Nov. 27, 1994, after he entered the United States illegally near Harlingen, Texas. A judge ordered him deported on June 21, 1995.<\/p>\n

The man entered the country again illegally and was caught by ERO Boston on May 18, 2010, and deported a year later.<\/p>\n

ICE said the man got back into the United States after Salvadoran authorities charged him with crimes against humanity and human trafficking on July 11, 2011.<\/p>\n

The agency reported an unidentified 21-year-old man from Brazil was arrested on Martha\u2019s Vineyard on Sept. 18 on suspicion of drug distribution.<\/strong><\/p>\n

ERO Boston also arrested an unnamed Brazilian man, 36, a fugitive sentenced in Brazil to serve 10 years in prison for a conviction for international drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

Federal agents later arrested Gustavo Augusto Mroczkoski, 28, also from Brazil, on Martha\u2019s Vineyard \u00a0for alleged drug, firearms, and ammunition crimes.<\/p>\n

Border Patrol agents detained Mroczkoski after he illegally entered the country on May 4 near San Luis, Arizona. Authorities released him in July on personal recognizance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Martha\u2019s Vineyard is about 38 miles northwest of Nantucket and home to 20,530 permanent residents.<\/p>\n

In December 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two planes with 50 illegal immigrants from Venezuela and Columbia to Martha\u2019s Vineyard to protest against the open borders policy.<\/p>\n

Democratic politicians said DeSantis was to blame for creating a humanitarian crisis. Authorities eventually took the migrants to a military base, where they received food and shelter.<\/p>\n

Crime in a Small Community<\/h2>\n

The 46-square-mile island of Nantucket<\/a> has a length of 14 miles and a width of 3.5 miles. Half of it is conservation land, limiting opportunities for housing development.<\/p>\n

For nearly a century, Nantucket Island was a major North American whaling port before tourism replaced industry in the late 1880s.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden (C) standing next to Nantucket Fire Department Chief Michael Cranson (L) talks during a visit with firefighters on Thanksgiving Day in Nantucket, Mass., on Nov. 24, 2022. Susan Walsh\/AP Photo<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The island\u2019s diverse population and cosmopolitan flavor attract residents and tourists year-round, and many of its inhabitants are recent immigrants from Jamaica and other countries.<\/p>\n

The United States Census Bureau reports that 10,159 (70.6 percent) of the island\u2019s inhabitants are white, 2,312 are Hispanic, 1,027 are black, and 264 are Asian.<\/p>\n

On Nantucket Island, the median household income is $135,590, with 12,169 total housing units and most home values ranging from $500,000 to more than $1 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Massachusetts Department of Education says that 40.1 percent of the island\u2019s public school<\/a> enrollment are Hispanic, 44.2 percent are white, 9.6 percent are black, 2.4 percent are Asian, and the rest are of two or more races.<\/p>\n

Brown said that illegal immigration often goes undetected.<\/p>\n

He said that illegal migrants arrive on the island with family or friends to stay with. Sometimes, this results in overcrowding of private homes and drains local infrastructure and resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a place where if the family has housing, they move in with them. Nantucket is an easy place to hide out,\u201d <\/strong>Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of [legal migrants] that come here are good people,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want a better life for their family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you have the bad guys who come. The ones who can\u2019t do it the right way, there\u2019s a reason, because they\u2019re wanted [by the law] in their own country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nantucket Police Department and Gov. Healey\u2019s office have yet to respond to emails from The Epoch Times asking for comment.<\/p>\n

Brooke Mohr, the chairwoman of the Nantucket Selectboard, did not respond to an Epoch Times\u2019 request for comment about plans to address illegal immigration and violent crime.<\/p>\n

Illegal immigrants gather, after being flown in from Texas on a flight funded by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., on Sept. 15, 2022. Vineyard Gazette\/Handout via Reuters<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

On Oct. 2, Mohr spoke publicly for 54 seconds about the ICE arrests in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe town of Nantucket Selectboard and municipal administration are aware of the recent arrests made by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the island,\u201d Mohr said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognize that this activity may have been unsettling to many of our residents. It is our understanding that the ICE action was not random but targeted toward the arrest of four known individuals who committed violent crimes on the island of Nantucket.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me clear. We are committed to the safety and well-being of members of our community regardless of their immigration status and are relieved that these offenders have been apprehended by the appropriate authorities and are no longer a threat to our community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe stand in support of the victims of these traumatic crimes and their families, and the town will make available any resources and counseling services they might need.\u201d<\/p>\n

How Many Criminals?<\/h2>\n

Christopher Lauzon, a Republican candidate for state senate from Barnstable to represent the Cape and Islands District, said that illegal immigration has been a problem on Nantucket Island for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest problem is we don\u2019t know who these people are when they don\u2019t come through the proper channels.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you get a situation over the past month on Nantucket where you have these dangerous, really heinous criminals on the island, impacting people in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose crimes never would have happened if they hadn\u2019t been allowed to remain in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauzon said most legal immigrants are honest and hard-working and don\u2019t support illegal immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are varying levels of understanding of the people who are not here legally,\u201d Lauzon told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them don\u2019t want them here at all; some people are willing to look the other way as long as they\u2019re not committing crimes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBut the bottom line is anyone who is here illegally, they don\u2019t belong here if they didn\u2019t come through the proper channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

A motorboat moored in the harbor on Nantucket Island on Oct. 2, 2024. Allan Stein\/The Epoch Times<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A faulty interpretation of the 1983 Right to Shelter Law in Massachusetts by the Healey administration is what makes illegal immigration possible, Lauzon said.<\/p>\n

The state created the law initially to help women and families of domestic violence, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really been misappropriated since Gov. Healey came into office,\u201d Lauzon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had tens of thousands of migrants coming into the state and getting shelter through that program, which is not what it\u2019s for, which is acting as a magnet to drag more migrants into the state. That really needs to change.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lauzon, a father of four, believes that crimes committed by illegal immigrants undermine public safety while illegal immigration robs the community of resources and peace of mind.<\/p>\n

State and local officials could do a better job tracking violent offenders, but the response so far has been \u201climited.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a limited response from what I\u2019ve seen. There\u2019s a lot of hesitancy to even comply with ICE\u2014and that\u2019s a statewide issue, not just on Nantucket. A lot of the courts refuse to comply with ICE detainers. It\u2019s a big problem,\u201d Lauzon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to claim that these criminals are not in the community. But at least one of those individuals on Nantucket was confirmed to be an MS-13 gang member.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThese people are coming into our country\u2014these dangerous criminals\u2014again, not to say that everyone coming in is that way\u2014but if even one of them is a dangerous criminal, that\u2019s one too many.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Father\u2019s Fear<\/h2>\n

One Nantucket father said he\u2019s worried there are more migrant criminals on Nantucket Island illegally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s five, there\u2019s 10. If there\u2019s 10, there\u2019s 15,\u201d the father told The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many more on this little island? How come we don\u2019t know more about this issue? We need to be informed of things like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we have rapists and murderers in our community, why aren\u2019t we being informed about this? Our police know. Our court systems know. Because they\u2019ve been in court, and they have records.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we left in the dark when it\u2019s our kids\u2019s health and the well-being of the community?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Baltimore, Md., arrested a Salvadoran national convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Maryland child. Courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDenial is a good word,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Not just denial, he added, but fear of speaking out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are also plenty of people who are afraid to speak their minds because it is a small community. Word travels fast. Once some people find out the way you lean, it can affect your livelihood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people who feel the way I do but feel they can\u2019t voice their opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some residents say that local businesses, such as landscaping and construction, will hire migrants living on the island illegally and pay them \u201cunder the table\u201d to avoid paying taxes and worker benefits or obtaining the required permits.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollow the money,\u201d the father said. \u201cThese people find out that they can come here, and they can make $30 or $40 an hour and get paid with no questions asked, no repercussions, no issues of licensing or insurance or green cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several patrons at Nantucket VFW Post 8608 said they didn\u2019t feel any less safe following the ICE arrests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they arrested them, [people] probably feel safer,\u201d said one woman. \u201cNothing surprises me anymore. It wasn\u2019t a huge invasion. It didn\u2019t disrupt\u2014I didn\u2019t see them.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf they do something wrong, the local police will catch them,\u201d <\/strong>another female patron said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived on Nantucket for 40 years. I\u2019ve never locked my doors,<\/strong>\u201d said another resident, who felt the alleged crimes were essentially family affairs that did not involve legal residents.<\/p>\n

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers apprehended 216 unlawfully present noncitizens who have been convicted of drug trafficking or multiple drug possession-related offenses on March 28, 2024. (ICE)ICE<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

But PJ Moody, a resident of Nantucket, said he didn\u2019t think people should be here if they were on the island illegally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be no illegals, really,\u201d Moody told The Epoch Times.\u201d I think the immigration system is a big problem. It\u2019s really unfair to people that are doing it correctly.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s start with violent offenders and go from there.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moody said that illegal immigration is a national problem, but \u201cit\u2019s one of those things that have been magnified on Nantucket.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNantucket is a very cosmopolitan place. Some so many people have done it the right way,\u201d he said. \u201cLike anywhere, we don\u2019t like violent criminals whether they\u2019re illegal or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 10\/20\/2024 – 08:10<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/nantucket-residents-rattled-arrest-5-illegal-immigrants-violent-sex-crimes<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nantucket Residents Rattled By Arrest Of 5 Illegal Immigrants For Violent Sex Crimes Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), The 30-mile…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1497366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1497365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1497365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1497366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1497365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1497365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1497365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}