Federal authorities say they apprehended a suspected child sex predator after he was released in a Rhode Island sanctuary city despite an immigration detainer.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the recent arrest of 45-year-old Felix Meletz Guarcas, an illegal alien from Guatemala.
Meletz Guarcas entered the U.S. at an unknown location and date, indicating he is one of millions of ‘gotaways’ lurking across the country.
In 2002, Meletz Guarcas was arrested by the Pawtucket Police Department for misdemeanor disorderly conduct and felony assault of police officers and other officials and later convicted of those crimes.
He was sentenced to six months probation but apparently allowed to remain in the U.S.
“The Providence Police Department arrested Meletz Guarcas for one count of first-degree sexual assault on a child and five counts of second-degree sexual assault on a child Sept. 3, 2023, and those charges are pending,” ICE explained in a press release.
ICE lodged a detainer against Meletz Guarcas, but officials ignored the request and he was released back into the community by the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.
Officers from ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston finally caught up with the Guatemalan on Nov. 20 and took him into custody, where he remains pending a hearing before an immigration judge.
“We use immigration detainers as public safety tools. We asked the Rhode Island Department of Corrections to hold Meletz Guarcas so we could take him into custody in their facility, but he was released to home confinement,” ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, the Department of Corrections doesn’t turn over home confinement releases, so a team of our officers were forced to arrest him in a public parking lot in Cranston, rather than a controlled environment in a custodial setting.”
Authorities continue to catch dangerous foreign criminals illegally present in the U.S., many of whom have been previously released into the country by law enforcement agencies.