Federal officers at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement increasingly arrested serious criminals charged with violent crimes within the United States after being released into the country from the border during the Biden administration.

Historically, illegal immigrants whom ICE has arrested within the U.S. have been individuals wanted in their home country in connection to serious crimes there or have been in the U.S. for a number of years and have criminal records that range from less serious to somewhat serious offenses, such as a DUI and robbery.

Thus far in August, ICE has increasingly focused on arresting people who have a criminal record and entered the United States under Biden than people who entered before he was president in 2021.

On Wednesday, ICE nabbed Peruvian gang leader Gianfranco Torres-Navarro in Endicott, New York. Torres-Navarro was wanted for 23 murders in his home country and had illegally entered the U.S. in May near Roma, Texas. He was let into the country rather than detained in ICE custody — a decision that Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY) said was the Biden administration’s fault.

“Let’s be crystal clear on why this happened. Governor Hochul, the Biden-Harris Administration, and open border activists like Josh Riley abandoned our borders and abandoned communities like Endicott. Because of them, we had an illegal immigrant and known serial killer wandering Endicott for nearly three months — just waiting for his next victim,” Molinaro said in a statement Friday.

ICE offices in Baltimore found and arrested the wanted leader of a Colombian gang who had entered the country illegally on Sept. 14, 2023, near San Ysidro, California. The unnamed 29-year-old man is the head of the Las Colinas criminal organization in Santa Marta, Colombia. 

Haitian migrant Marc Kervens Beauvais was arrested by ICE on Aug. 13 in Peabody, Massachusetts, after he was charged with the aggravated rape of a pregnant woman in June. The 34-year-old man was also charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and an attempt to commit a crime. He was arrested by the Border Patrol in Del Rio, Texas, on June 26, 2021, and released with a notice to report to ICE offices for court details.

“We simply can not allow anyone that poses such a threat to prey upon the residents of our communities,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons in a statement. “ERO Boston will continue our mission of prioritizing public safety by aggressively apprehending and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from New England.”

A 35-year-old man from Brazil was taken into custody in Wakefield, Massachusetts, this week for the assault to rape, indecent assault, and battery of a child over 14 years of age, as well as domestic assault and battery.

Jackson Bento-Pinheiro was admitted into the country and allowed to remain under the Alternatives to Detention, which fits individuals with ankle monitors or a phone app capable of tracking their GPS location. He was first encountered by Border Patrol entering near San Ysidro, California, on July 10, 2021.

In numerous cases, people were arrested by ICE after being bailed or bonded out of local jail. ICE was not able to immediately take custody of the detainee when they were let out of jail in the community because local ordinances in these “sanctuary” cities bar local police from turning over people in custody to federal law enforcement.

A 26-year-old Haitian migrant arrested in the aggravated rape of a child in Rockland, Massachusetts, was arrested in March by local police. ICE asked the police to detain Cory Bernard Alvarez until officers could transfer him to federal custody. The Plymouth County Superior Court of Brockton denied the ICE request and released Alvarez on a $500 bond. ICE arrested Alvarez near his home in Brockton, Massachusetts, this week.

The Rhode Island Department of Corrections declined to hold a suspect that ICE requested be detained until federal police could take custody. Rhode Island authorities released a man in custody for fentanyl smuggling in Rhode Island from custody in July.

Dominican citizen Yohan Perez-Chala was arrested in May for fentanyl trafficking in Cranston, Rhode Island. He entered the U.S. illegally at the southern border but was not caught by Border Patrol when he entered and made his way to New England. ICE arrested him in Cranston last month.

The Connecticut Department of Corrections also recently denied an ICE detainer request and let back onto the street a 36-year-old Peruvian man charged in Hartford, Connecticut, with assault, as well as threatening and unlawful restraint.

Irving Gustavo Escate-Huarancca entered the U.S. illegally at the border near San Luis, Arizona, on Dec. 11, 2023. Border authorities released him into the country, unaware that he had been convicted of aggravated robbery in Peru and sentenced to 11 years in prison. ICE arrested Escate-Huarancca in Hartford in mid-July.

“He clearly represents a threat to our neighborhoods that we cannot allow to continue,” said Lyons. “ERO Boston will continue to prioritize the safety of our public by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from New England.”

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Colombian citizen Elkin Arturo Yarce-Munera was released into the country from the border town of Brownville, Texas in May 2022. The following January he was arrested in Boston for the assault and battery of a family member or household member. 

The East Boston District Court convicted Yarce in December 2023 but declined to turn him over to ICE. ICE arrested Yarce and found he had fake Social Security and U.S. permanent resident documents.