A Guatemalan man living illegally in the United States was arrested by immigration authorities last month on suspicion of sexually abusing a child in Rhode Island after being released from local custody.
Felix Meletz Guarcas, 45, was released from the Rhode Island Department of Corrections despite a request from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer to hold him until federal authorities could take him into custody, ICE said.
Felix Meletz Guarcas, 45, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, is accused of sexually assaulting a child in Rhode Island. (ICE)
A detainee is asking that local authorities notify immigration agents when a suspected illegal migrant is about to be released so that federal authorities can take the person into custody to begin deportation proceedings.
“We use immigration detainers as public safety tools,” Patricia Hyde, acting field office director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston, said in a statement. “We asked the Rhode Island Department of Corrections to detain Meletz Guarcas so we could take him into custody at their facility, but he was released and placed on house arrest.”
“Unfortunately, the Department of Corrections does not transfer release from home confinement, so a team of our officers were forced arrest him in a public parking lot in Cranston, rather than in a controlled environment in a prison environment,” he added.
An exterior view of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters is seen on July 6, 2018 in Washington, DC. US (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
It is not known when Meletz Guarcas illegally entered the US, ICE said.
On February 16, 2022, he was arrested by the Pawtucket Police Department in Rhode Island for disorderly conduct and assault on police officers and other officers. He was found guilty and sentenced to six months’ probation.
On November 20, Meletz Guarcas was arrested again and charged with first-degree assault sexual abuse on a child and five counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, ICE said.
The incident occurred on September 3, authorities said.
A law enforcement officer walks past an ICE logo prior to a press conference on Thursday, May 11, 2017, at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, DC. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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Meletz Guarcas remains in ICE custody and charges against him are pending.
