An illegal migrant convicted of a violent assault on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts was released — and then went on to allegedly rape a child just months later — despite ICE requesting he be handed over to them, the feds say.
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Boston said it had to ask to take custody of Brazilian national Warley Neto, 24, three times before federal agents were finally allowed to grab him.
Two of the towns that were involved in the case — Edgartown and Tisbury — have declared themselves sanctuary cities.
Neto was taken into custody by the feds in the upmarket liberal enclave of Edgartown on Aug. 23 after he was indicted on five counts of raping a Massachusetts minor and five counts of enticing a minor under 16 earlier this year, according to ICE officials.
A “friendly” sheriff’s office finally notified ICE authorities — who nabbed him in court before Neto was to be released again, an agency official told The Post. “They went above and beyond in order to notify us and turn them over to us and everything.”
Neto had illegally crossed into the US near Paso Del Norte, Texas, in March 2018 but was released from custody after being served with a notice to appear before an immigration judge at a later date, authorities said.
He popped back up on ICE’s radar in February last year after he was arrested by local cops in Martha’s Vineyard on a slew of charges — including strangulation, assault and battery on a family or household member and threat to commit a crime. This was the first time ERO asked to detain Neto.
Neto, who was found guilty on the charges in June 2023, was sentenced to a year in prison but was freed after the Edgartown District Court suspended all but 90 days of the sentence, according to the feds.
An ERO official said the agency was not notified that he was about to be freed into the community.
Just months later, in January of this year, Neto was rearrested and indicted in Dukes County Superior Court on the rape charges, federal officials said.
Details on the attacks Neto allegedly carried out — including who he targeted, when and where — weren’t immediately available.
The ERO again asked local cops to take custody of him.
However, he was booked into the Dukes County Jail in the wake of his January arrest on the rape charges.
He was finally transferred into ICE custody after Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston lodged its third immigration detainer against him late last month.
Dukes County Sheriff’s office Major Greg Arpin told The Post that while their office doesn’t “hold” migrants on ICE detainers beyond their sentences, they do make it a point to “notify interested parties of any releases.”
“That’s what happened in this case,” Arpin said.
It wasn’t clear when Neto first made his way to Martha’s Vineyard, or if he was among the planeloads of migrants shipped there by Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.
“Warley Neto allegedly repeatedly assaulted a Massachusetts child and represents a significant threat to the safety of our neighborhoods,” said Todd M. Lyons, director of Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston’s field office.
“We are grateful for the cooperation of the Dukes County Sheriff’s Office for prioritizing public safety and allowing Neto’s safe transfer of custody to ERO.
“Too often local jurisdictions refuse to honor immigration detainers and release dangerous offenders back into the community to reoffend. ERO Boston will continue to apprehend and remove the most egregious noncitizen offenders from New England.”
ERO, which is part of ICE, is tasked with detaining and removing illegal immigrants from the US — including at the order of immigration judges with the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review.
The Martha’s Vineyard incident was not the first time in recent weeks that violent migrants were cut loose despite ERO Boston lodging detainers against them.
On Sept. 6, Jorge Luis Castro-Alvarado, 28, was arrested by ERO Boston after he was charged with rape in Lynn, Massachusetts, on Aug. 1.
ERO had previously lodged a detainer against Castro-Alvarado on Feb. 9 after he was arrested for a separate charge of assault and battery on a family or household member.
Castro-Alvarado – who entered the US at an unknown date and location – was convicted by the Lynn District Court and sentenced to 18 months in prison, but had his sentenced shortened.
He was then arraigned in April for two counts of rape, and indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years old – but cut loose despite the ERO detainer before he was finally picked up months later in September.
And Cory Alvarez – a 26-year-old from Haiti – was arrested in August on charges for raping a child in Massachusetts.
ERO had a detainer lodged against him, but he was released on a low bail in March after he was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl.
