Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested a 26-year-old Haitian national charged with raping a 15-year-old girl in a Rockland, Massachusetts, migrant shelter.
Cory Bernard Alvarez had been released on $500 bail on June 27 after Plymouth Superior Court Judge Susan E. Sullivan rejected prosecutors' request that he be held without bail under the state's dangerousness law, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday.
Deportation officers apprehended Alvarez near his residence in Brockton, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, ICE said in a news release.
"He will have his day in court and ERO [Enforcement and Removal Operation] Boston will continue to cooperate with the criminal court system in Massachusetts, but we cannot allow any significant noncitizen threat to the children of our communities to potentially reoffend," ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons said in the news release. "ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from New England."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection admitted Alvarez into the U.S. lawfully on June 26, 2023, in New York. The Globe reported that Alvarez allegedly entered the country through the Humanitarian Parole Program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans implemented by the Biden administration, according to the Plymouth district attorney's office.
The process allows up to 30,000 migrants a month from those four countries to enter the U.S. for a two-year period after passing a background check and securing a sponsor. The Biden administration reportedly said Aug. 5 it was pausing the program amid concerns about fraud among financial sponsors.
ICE said Alvarez violated the terms of his lawful admittance, and the Rockland Police Department arrested him on March 14. Later that day, he was arraigned at Hingham District Court for aggravated rape of a child, 10 years age difference. ICE said it then lodged an immigration detainer against Alvarez with the Plymouth County Sheriff's Office.
But under the state's court system, anyone who would otherwise be entitled to go free cannot be held "solely on a civil immigration detainer or civil immigration warrant," the Globe reported, and Alvarez walked out of the courthouse in June after posting bail.
In May, Alvarez pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated child rape and rape of a child with force, the Globe reported, citing court records. The teenage girl, who is also from Haiti, identified Alvarez as her attacker, prosecutors said. Alvarez and the teenager had been living at a Comfort Inn being used as an emergency shelter since October but did not know each other, according to court records.
At the time, Alvarez's attorney, Brian Kelley, said his client was granted bail "due to the inconsistencies in the evidence and the alleged victim's version of events, lack of physical evidence, and [because] the surveillance [video] did not support the claim."
"As well, Mr. Alvarez has no criminal history and [it] has been reported he was subject to a background check before coming into the country," Kelley said. "Our hope is that he is able to remain here until he vindicates himself on these false charges."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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