ICE arrests man in East Boston park
Agency says Guatemalan immigrant was in US illegally
By 
This story has been updated.
FOUR AGENTS with Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a man in an East Boston park on Tuesday morning.
A video from a passerby shows ICE agents searching the man’s wallet, frisking him, and then taking him into custody. According to the passerby, one of the agents said “ICE had a warrant for his [the arrested man’s] apartment.”
ICE on Tuesday night identified the man as 40-year-old Elder Misan Guerra-Perez. “ICE officers arrested him in Boston November 17 as he was subject to a final order of removal,” said a spokesman for ICE’s office of Enforcement and Removal Operations. He said Guerra-Perez is a Guatemalan national who is illegally present in the US.
“Guerra-Perez was initially encountered by ICE Officers in February 2010 after being arrested by the Boston Police Department on local charges. Guerra-Perez was found to have illegally entered the US without inspection, served a Notice to Appear, and released from ICE custody on February 17, 2010, after posting bond,” said the spokesman. The agency did not respond to questions about whether Guerra-Perez was convicted of any crime.
ICE detained Guerra-Perez in Bremen Street Park, which is owned and run by Massport. Rep. Adrian Madaro initially claimed Massport Police had been presented with a warrant for his arrest before it happened. Madaro later said Massport reached out to him to say they were not aware of the arrest.
A Massport spokesperson said the agency reached out to ICE after the arrest because it occurred on their property.
Madaro said that the public needs to be made aware of the circumstances of the arrest.
“I think it’s important to know the details. Was it someone who overstayed a visa? Or someone with a violent background?” he said.
Todd Lyons, the acting field director for ICE’s New England office, said in February that agents are focusing on “public safety threats” – people who have been charged with or convicted of crimes. The agency is also interested in people who have committed crimes, been deported, and then returned to the US, he said.
Lyons said the agency would rather detain undocumented people who are already in local jails or courthouses, but that avenue has been blocked because of a lack of cooperation from local law enforcement officials. “When agencies and other jurisdictions don’t cooperate with us, we do have to go out into the community,” Lyons said.
Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards said she is asking Mayor Martin Walsh and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross if they have information on the arrest.
“Incidents like this make residents feel unsafe and afraid to go to work or play with their families in parks,” said Edwards in a written statement. “People should not have to worry about being detained by immigration authorities on their way to work.”
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley weighed in on the incident after the East Boston resident who posted the arrest video reached out to her. She said the incident is “deeply disturbing and once again raises questions about the agency’s growing presence and operations in our communities. We cannot stand by while ICE agents continue to terrorize neighborhoods in the Massachusetts 7th [congressional district] or anywhere in the Commonwealth.”