The feds came away with a big haul during a massive raid on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Tuesday, nabbing 40 illegal migrants — including a notorious MS-13 gangbanger and a child sex offender, officials said.
The operation on the two popular tourist islands off Massachusetts tapped several federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the US Coast Guard and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to a new press release.
“Operations like this highlight the strong alliances that ICE shares with our fellow law enforcement partners,” Patricia Hyde, acting director of the ICE Boston field office, said in a statement.
“ICE officers and FBI, DEA and ATF agents worked together to arrest a significant number of illegal alien offenders, which included at least one child predator,” she added.
“Our partners in the US Coast Guard facilitated a safe and efficient transport of the alien offenders off Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, ensuring the safety of the residents of those communities.”
The two islands off the coast of the Bay State are seasonal tourist meccas known more as popular summer hot spots than criminal activity — which left locals rattled by the raid.
“They were just grabbing people out of their cars,” one resident told the Vineyard Gazette.
Thiago Aviles, who owns L&R Electrical Services on Martha’s Vineyard, said one of his workers was questioned and released after the feds learned he had a green card.
“My guy said they were stopping all the work vans,” Aviles told the outlet. “It’s nothing against [us]. It’s pretty much everyone.”
Luciene Alves, a Brazilian housekeeper on Nantucket for more than 20 years who has legal residency, said she had to pick up migrant kids at the local school because their parents didn’t want to leave their homes for fear the feds would pick them up.
“People in general are extremely afraid,” she told the Nantucket Current. “They are in a panic. They don’t know what to expect for tomorrow and the other days to come.”
Authorities did not immediately identify the individuals arrested in the raid, but said at least one was “a documented member” of Mara Salvatrucha — or MS-13 — the violent migrant gang that has wreaked havoc across the US, including on Long Island.
