Deportation officers apprehended an illegal immigrant who entered the United States undetected and allegedly raped a minor in Massachusetts, according to federal immigration authorities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents apprehended on May 28 Yader Alexander Morales-Queved, a 24-year-old Guatemalan national accused of raping a minor in Bristol County, the agency announced on Monday. ICE noted that he entered the country undetected at an unknown time and location and without being inspected or paroled by any federal immigration officials, classifying him as a “gotaway.”
“Yader Alexander Morales-Quevedo will have his day in court, but he is facing some very serious charges,” ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons stated. “He posed a significant threat to the children in our Massachusetts communities.”
“ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from our New England neighborhoods,” Lyons continued.
The New Bedford District Court arraigned Morales-Quevedo in August 2022 for the offense of rape of a minor, then elevated the charges to the Superior Court, according to ICE. Morales-Quevedo was arraigned by the Bristol County Superior Court in January 2023 for “rape of a child and for child in nude, lascivious pose/exhibit.”
The Guatemalan national will remain in ERO custody pending the outcome of his removal proceedings, the agency confirmed.
The announcement follows other apprehensions in New England highlighted by the agency. ICE’s Boston office on Friday ripped Rhode Island authorities for releasing an illegal immigrant who was locally charged with sexually assaulting an individual with a “severe mental handicap” while not honoring an ICE detainer.
The number of known gotaways has exploded under the Biden administration, according to the latest federal data.
In the three years of fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2023, more than 1.6 million known gotaways have been recorded, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data released via a records request. The number is greater than all known gotaways recorded in both the Trump and Obama administrations from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2020.
These numbers also do not account for unknown gotaways.
