Thursday, 4:30 PM
Immigration raid nets 36 arrests
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff
Thirty-six Worcester-area immigrants have been arrested and charged with being in the country illegally, including 17 convicted of crimes including rape of a child, assault and battery on a child, and failure to register as a sex offender, federal immigration authorities said today.
All face court hearings that could lead to deportation.
Those arrested came from Albania, Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Laos, Liberia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Uruguay, and Thailand, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
They include 14 lawful permanent residents of the US who had been convicted of crimes, 16 immigrants who had flouted deportation orders, two immigrants who reentered the country after being deported, and four immigrants charged with being in the country illegally, three of whom had been convicted of crimes, officials said.
The immigrants were arrested between June 11 and June 22, officials said, and had been living in Ashburnham, Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, Lowell, Milford, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, Uxbridge, Whitinsville, and Worcester.
