A Brazilian man convicted of raping a five-year-old child in his home country in 2019 has been apprehended by law enforcement in Martha’s Vineyard after he illegally entered the United States to avoid his 14-year prison sentence.
Saulo Cardoso Ferreira, 37, was arrested by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston officers – a division of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – during a routine traffic stop on the island last Thursday. His whereabouts were unknown after he went into hiding to avoid his sentence.
U.S. immigration officials reluctantly admitted they did not know when or how the convicted child rapist entered the country. Worse still, ICE said Ferreira has entered the U.S. illegally multiple times dating back to 2007.
“This undocumented Brazilian national represented a significant threat to the inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard,” said ERO Bostons Field Office Director Todd Lyons in a statement. “We will continue to apprehend and remove anyone who attempts to use our New England community as a refuge from justice.”
In the 2022 fiscal year, ERO arrested a staggering 46,396 foreigners who entered the U.S. with criminal histories, including 8,164 sex offenders, 1,112 kidnappers, and 1,501 people convicted for homicides, according to ICE data.
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