Federal immigration officials in Boston say they arrested 328 people across New England over the past year who were facing a combined 1,735 domestic violence-related criminal charges, timed to coincide with Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The announcement, framed around violent case histories including willful homicide involving a family member and aggravated assault with a weapon, is now drawing sharp pushback from regional immigrant advocacy groups who say the agency's framing leaves out a much bigger and messier picture.
According to New Bedford Guide, the 1,735 charges tied to the 328 arrests covered a range of offenses, from willful homicide involving a family member to domestic violence, family offenses, family neglect, and cruelty toward a child or wife. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston field office, which oversees civil immigration enforcement across all six New England states, said it identifies, arrests, and removes people arrested or convicted of domestic violence crimes, according to the agency's own organizational records from ICE.
The Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition responded to the announcement by noting that more than 70% of people currently held in federal immigration detention nationwide have no criminal convictions, as reported by the Fall River Reporter. The statistic is a direct challenge to the way ICE frames its public messaging, which tends to spotlight the most violent individual cases rather than the broader detainee population.
The Bridgeport Case ICE Highlighted
One case folded into the announcement involves João Victor Borges de Queiroz, described in the New Bedford Guide report as a criminal illegal alien from Brazil. Per the outlet, Borges de Queiroz was arrested on attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping involving a firearm, first-degree assault involving discharge of a firearm, first-degree unlawful restraint, illegal possession of a large-capacity magazine, and unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien, with ICE Boston taking custody of him after what the agency described as an unsuccessful attempt to flee the country following an attack on his former wife on December 24, 2025.
FOX61's earlier reporting fills in more of that timeline. Federal prosecutors in Connecticut charged Borges de Queiroz in January 2026 with illegal gun possession by an unlawful alien after he allegedly hid in his ex-wife's trunk in Bridgeport, shot at her inside her moving vehicle on December 23, 2025, and continued assaulting her on the street until bystanders intervened, the station reported. State authorities had originally charged him with attempted murder and first-degree kidnapping before federal prosecutors filed the weapons charge.
Court filings cited by the station show Borges de Queiroz was apprehended the next day at the Highgate Springs, Vermont port of entry, roughly 300 miles north of Bridgeport, after Canadian border officials refused him entry and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers flagged an active armed-and-dangerous warrant out of Connecticut. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston office then turned him over to federal authorities for prosecution, and the New Bedford Guide report notes his case will proceed through the judicial process with due process under the law.
What Federal Gun Law Says
The weapons charge against Borges de Queiroz stems from 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), which makes it a federal crime for anyone unlawfully present in the United States to possess a firearm or ammunition. Per the FBI, the offense now carries a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison, up from 10 years before the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 raised the statutory ceiling.
Nationally, the offense is common. United States Sentencing Commission records show federal prosecutors secured 7,245 convictions nationwide for unlawful firearm possession under section 922(g) during fiscal year 2025, with 98% of those defendants male and 18% identifying as Hispanic. That statute covers several categories of prohibited people, including convicted felons and unlawful drug users as well as non-citizens without legal status.
Massachusetts' New Limits on Local Cooperation
The timing of ICE's announcement arrives against a backdrop of new state-level pushback. Massachusetts enacted the PROTECT Act in August 2026, setting restrictions on local police participation in civil federal immigration enforcement and establishing safeguards within state courthouses, schools, and medical facilities, according to the MIRA Coalition. The law reflects a broader push by sanctuary jurisdictions to keep local public services separate from federal civil immigration enforcement.
That separation matters most, advocates say, for domestic violence survivors themselves. Reporting by MetroWest Daily News, citing the domestic violence coalition Jane Doe Inc., found that federal immigration enforcement near local courthouses creates a chilling effect, leading some immigrant survivors to forgo protective orders out of fear of deportation. Victim advocates told the outlet that abusers frequently exploit the threat of deportation as a tool of coercive control against undocumented partners, complicating the very enforcement actions ICE frames as victim protection.
ICE Boston has a pattern of releasing targeted enforcement statistics during October to coincide with National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, highlighting arrests of non-citizens with prior domestic battery records in cities including Framingham and Fall River, per the agency's own public communications. The Boston City Council separately recognized October 2026 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, joining state agencies in highlighting confidential resources such as the 24/7 SafeLink hotline, which Boston.gov says is available to all victims regardless of immigration status.
The tension between those two messages — federal enforcement framed as protection, and local officials urging victims to seek help without fear of status checks — has also surfaced in Hoodline's earlier reporting on a Malden case, where a domestic violence call led to a woman's four-day detention at a Burlington ICE facility. ICE has not responded to the specific advocacy concerns raised by MIRA or Jane Doe Inc. in its public statements on the 328 arrests. For those seeking help, ICE maintains a tip line at 866-DHS-2-ICE and an online tip form for reporting information related to its enforcement priorities.
