BOSTON — Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrant criminals is in full swing days into his presidency, with some of his top officials celebrating at least eight arrests made so far in the Boston area.

Vice President JD Vance said he’s “glad” that a Haitian gang member who told agents “(expletive) Trump, Biden forever!” is one of the illegal immigrants being deported.

Fox News, embedded with Boston-based members of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations during the agency’s first raid across the region under the Trump administration, reported the Haitian had at least 17 criminal convictions.

“An illegal alien with 17 criminal convictions really hates President Trump for sending him back to Haiti,” Vance said in an X post Thursday. “He’s grateful to Biden for letting him come here. I’m glad we’re deporting him. Do you agree or would you like him as your neighbor?”

Elon Musk, heading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, responded: “Wow,” while press secretary Karoline Leavitt reacted in a separate post: “Bye bye!,” with a waving hand emoji.

ICE also reportedly swept up multiple MS-13 gang members and murder and rape suspects during Wednesday’s raid. Officers also made at least one “collateral” arrest of an illegal immigrant who they didn’t initially target until they apprehended an MS-13 gang member at the same Boston home, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugian reported.

At least two of the arrested illegal immigrants had been released from custody previously under sanctuary city policies, ERO Boston told Melugian.

Melugian reported Thursday that after his ride along, ICE officers arrested two more targets: “A Haitian who flew into the U.S. in 2023 as part of Biden’s migrant flights program (and) is now charged (with) sexual assault, (and) a previously deported Honduran illegal alien charged with raping a victim while holding a gun in her mouth.”

Local television news outlets WCVB and NBC 10 Boston reported they spotted federal agents making arrests in East Boston and a Chelsea Market Basket parking lot on Wednesday. No further reports surfaced Thursday.

Chelsea City Councilor Todd Taylor told the Boston Herald on Thursday that he expected raids to start locally as soon as Trump regained office, with border czar Tom Homan declaring sanctuary cities would be a top target.

“We are getting rid of dangerous people out of our mix,” Taylor, the lone Republican on the City Council, said in a phone interview. “That, I think, everybody should stand up and applaud. For anyone clutching their pearls about this, you need to think twice.”

Annie Gonzalez, a volunteer with the Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network, told the Herald that she views the initial raids as a “clear example” of how the Trump administration “thrives off fear.”

“They sent ICE agents, with Fox News following along to get footage, to arrest specific individuals who have the types of charges that make good headlines for their propaganda,” she said. “This outrageous use of taxpayer dollars creates understandable fear in the immigrant community and also stokes unfounded fear in the general public."

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell issued a joint statement with counterparts from 10 other states Thursday that “state and local law enforcement cannot be commandeered for federal immigration enforcement.”

A Justice Department memo circulated Wednesday indicated higher-ups had ordered federal prosecutors to investigate state and local officials and laws that “threaten to impede” the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

“Despite what he may say to the contrary, the President cannot unilaterally re-write the Constitution,” the statement reads.

Malden Police Chief Glenn T. Cronin issued a community statement outlining a 2017 ruling from the state Supreme Judicial Court that local law enforcement is not authorized to detain individuals based on federal immigration detainer requests.

“This means that we will not take individuals into custody simply because of their immigration status,” Cronin wrote. “At the same time, it is essential to emphasize that when a serious crime is committed, we are bound by law to take appropriate action.”

Some school superintendents are trying to reassure concerned parents that their districts are following guidelines that they say aim to protect immigrant families including not coordinating with ICE and not admitting agents into schools.

In Providence, the FBI raided immigration attorney Joseph Molina Flynn’s downtown offices Thursday, news outlets reported. FBI representatives confirmed that the agency served a court-authorized search warrant there but didn’t comment on specifics, according to reports.

The raid prompted Molina Flynn to resign from serving as a judge at Central Falls Municipal Court, the reports added.

“ICE raids create fear and distrust for not only immigrants,” Greater Boston-based immigration lawyer Bianca Jordan told the Herald, “but their friends, families, and neighbors, which includes U.S. citizens and legal residents. Instead of these fear-based tactics, we should focus on fixing our immigration system to allow people to seek legal status with dignity and respect."

Through the first three days of the Trump administration, the number of Border Patrol encounters at the southern border is 35% lower than the final three days of the Biden administration, Department of Homeland Security sources told Fox News Digital.

Contrary to what she said on national TV in November, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told reporters Wednesday that she plans to cooperate with federal immigration officials. But conservative critics aren’t buying her shift in tone.

“Healey is giving lip service that she won’t stand in the way of ICE,” Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Diego Craney told the Herald on Thursday. “However, look at her actions, she’s making (illegal immigrant criminals) comfortable. For a lot of taxpayers, they have a giant sigh of relief that some people in our government, on the federal side, are taking our immigration laws seriously.”

_____

©2025 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.