Rhode Island cuts loose an illegal alien charged with raping a mentally handicapped person

Despite the failure of Democratic lawmakers to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from entering schools, hospitals, and courthouses without a judicial warrant, Rhode Island is still effectively a sanctuary state, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

At the very least, the Ocean State — whose capital is a sanctuary city — will not hold a person in custody on the basis of an ICE detainer alone, Democratic Gov. Dan McKee confirmed in a Feb. 22 statement.

On Feb. 28, the Providence Police Department arrested an illegal alien from Guatemala wanted on first-degree child molestation, rape, and domestic abuse charges. Despite ICE lodging an immigration detainer against the accused child rapist, the Sixth District Court of Rhode Island reportedly cut him loose before Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston officers could take custody.

Fortunately, ICE was able to nab him on April 10 before he could victimize more residents in the state.

"This unlawfully present individual was arrested locally on first degree child molestation charges and was released back into the community despite an immigration detainer," said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons. "We believe it is in the interest of the community that jurisdictions honor our immigration detainers so that ICE can take direct custody of individuals like this who pose a threat to residents."

Days later, it looked as though Rhode Island may have taken Lyons' suggestion to heart.

A child rapist from Guatemala, in the U.S. illegally, was arrested in 2018 then convicted of first-degree child molestation/sexual assault in 2022. Despite receiving a 25-year prison sentence, his sentence was reduced to six years. Prior to his release, the Rhode Island Department of Corrections notified ICE, enabling ERO Boston to prevent him from returning to "our Rhode Island neighborhoods to re-offend."

The days of such cooperation were evidently short-lived.

'This is not the type of individual we want walking the streets of our New England neighborhoods.'

Rigberto Hoyos-Alban, a 33-year-old Colombian national who stole across the southern border near Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in November 2023, was arrested by the Central Falls Police Department in Rhode Island on March 13 and charged with two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of second-degree rape, and one count of felony assault on a person mentally impaired, according to ICE.

Once again, deportation officers from ERO Boston's Providence field office lodged an immigration detainer — this time with the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute on March 14 — and once again the ICE detainer was not honored.

The prison cut Hoyos-Alban loose, enabling the alleged rapist to roam the land for over two months.

ICE officers finally caught up to the Colombian in Cranston on May 22.

"Rigberto Hoyos-Alban has been charged with four couts [sic] of sexual assault and one count of assault aganst [sic] a person with a severe mental handicap," Lyons said in a statement. "This is not the type of individual we want walking the streets of our New England neighborhoods."

Lyons added that ERO Boston will "continue to prioritize the safety of our public by apprehending and removing violent noncitizens from our communities."

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