ICE Arrests Guatemalan Man Charged With Rape After Release From Massachusetts Jail

ICE agents picked up Rocael Ordonez-Cruz the moment Middlesex County let him go.

Ordonez-Cruz, 23, walked out of the Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica, Massachusetts on July 21. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers in Boston were waiting, according to the agency.

He's from Guatemala. ICE says he entered the United States illegally, at an unknown location and time, without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by any immigration official.

The Charges

Arlington, Massachusetts police arrested Ordonez-Cruz on June 25. Local prosecutors charged him with rape and assault to rape.

He also faces charges of indecent assault and battery on a person aged 14 or older, plus indecent exposure, according to ICE.

These are charges, not convictions. Ordonez-Cruz has not been tried on any of them, and the underlying criminal case remains with Massachusetts courts, not ICE.

What ICE Did Next

After Middlesex County released him from state custody, ICE officers took him into federal custody and served him with a notice to appear before a Justice Department immigration judge. That notice starts removal proceedings.

"Rocael Ordonez-Cruz has not only displayed a blatant disregard for our laws by illegally entering this United States and later allegedly sexually assaulting our residents, he has also proven to be a threat to our neighborhoods," said David Wesling, acting Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston Field Office Director.

"The arrest of this alleged sex offender from the streets of Massachusetts shows our officers' dedication to the safety and security of our New England communities," Wesling added. "We will not stop finding and arresting dangerous criminal alien offenders."

Ordonez-Cruz stays in ICE custody while his removal case plays out.

The Bigger Pattern

This arrest comes alongside other ICE cases making headlines in the same stretch. Fox News reported separately on Juan Arevalo Mendez, a twice-deported illegal immigrant charged with rape and kidnapping in Fairfax County, Virginia. Former Acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey pointed to Mendez's record of assault and drug possession charges, arguing the Fairfax case was preventable if the county had handed Mendez to federal custody earlier instead of releasing him back into the community.

When local jails release someone facing serious charges without coordinating a handoff to federal immigration authorities, the person walks free in the community, at least temporarily, before ICE can act. In the Massachusetts case, ICE was there the day of release, which is the outcome ICE wants replicated everywhere. In the Virginia case, according to Fahey, that coordination didn't happen the way ICE wanted, and Mendez was allegedly able to offend again.

Critics of aggressive interior enforcement counter that local jails often aren't legally required to hold someone past their release date just because ICE requests it, and that detainer requests without a judicial warrant have been challenged in courts in several states over due process concerns. Courts across the country are working through this legal question, separate from the facts of this specific Massachusetts case.

What's Unresolved

Ordonez-Cruz hasn't been convicted of anything yet. The Massachusetts criminal case against him on the rape and related charges will proceed independently of his immigration status, and a conviction or acquittal there could take months.

Meanwhile his removal proceedings before the immigration judge run on a separate track. It's not yet clear which process will conclude first, or whether Massachusetts prosecutors intend to complete the criminal case before any deportation occurs.

ICE has not said whether Ordonez-Cruz had any prior contact with immigration authorities before the June 25 arrest, and the agency's statement includes no further detail on how he entered the country or when.