BOURNE, MASS. (WHDH) - An illegal immigrant rape suspect was arrested on Cape Cod last week as part of a new cooperative program between ICE and the Barnstable Sheriff’s Office, authorities say.
Antonio Ferreira, a Brazilian national, was arrested by newly trained Barnstable County deputy sheriffs and transported to their facility in Bourne. He is now awaiting trial in Barnstable Superior Court on an active warrant for rape, assault and battery, and soliciting a felony, Barnstable Special Sheriff Jeff Perry said in a statement Friday.
In August 2005, Ferreira was served an Immigration Department Notice to Appear and was ordered returned to Brazil 17 months later, Perry said. It’s unclear when he re-entered the U.S.
Ferreira will now be processed by Barnstable County’s new 287(g) field office and the ICE field office in Boston. The paperwork required will include a Warrant of Arrest, an 1-871 Notice of Intent, and what is called a decision to Reinstate Prior Order, according to Perry. Removal from the U.S. will be as prescribed by Section 241(a)5 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act.
“This cooperative program is officially off to a good start. The end result will never change. It will make our county and our country a safer place. If that means doing it one case at a time, so be it,” Barnstable County Sheriff James M. Cummings said in a statement. “This is exactly why we wanted to be involved in this program. So individuals like this would not be released to the community in Barnstable County.”
In a statement, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations’ Boston Field Director, Rebecca J. Adducci, said she values cooperation from law enforcement partners like the Sheriff’s Office because “it allows for the removal of dangerous criminal illegal aliens like Ferreira.”
The joint efforts, she added, “help to make communities throughout the Commonwealth safer every day.”
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)