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Agents wearing tactical gear from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement arrested two men on their way to work early Friday morning on County Street in New Bedford.
Joseph Reyes-Rubui and Nelson Lopes, who live in New Bedford and are coworkers at Raycon Construction, LLC, were identified by a family member and housemate as the arrested men. Reyes-Rubui, from Nicaragua, and Lopes, of both Mexican and Guatemalan descent, according to housemates, did not appear in a search of ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System on Friday.
The ICE field office in Burlington did not respond to The Light’s request to confirm the operation.
The two arrests are among the first in New Bedford since the federal government recently announced a “surge” of new immigration enforcement activity in the Boston area.
This action adds to the total of more than 50 ICE arrests in New Bedford, according to The Light’s tracking.
Multiple vehicles stopped Reyes and Lopes on their way to work, outside of the KFC restaurant on County Street. One of the vehicles involved in the arrest had been lingering near the home where Reyes and Lopes stayed, according to photos taken by a housemate and reviewed by The Light.
Housemates said that this contributed to the “fear” and “intimidation” they felt was directed at the whole Latino and Hispanic community.
“I’m afraid to go out in the street,” the housemate said.
Reyes-Rubui was in the process of making an asylum claim and had working papers, according to a family member and housemate. He had been in the country for almost three years, and was working to support two children back in Nicaragua. Lopes’ immigration status is unknown.
A search of Bristol County District Court documents found that a man named Joseph Reyes-Rubui was charged with assault and battery in 2024. That charge was “continued without a finding” when Reyes-Rubui agreed to the terms of a restraining order.
The housemate confirmed this was the same person.
That search did not turn up any charges against Nelson Lopes, who has lived in New Bedford for only one year.
The family member of Reyes-Rubui and housemate of both Lopes and Reyes-Rubui said that she was extremely disappointed to read some of the social media comments that celebrated the arrests of both men. She said that both men were hardworking and were following the rules.
“This says that people aren’t important, that their lives and their families aren’t important,” this person said in Spanish.
The arrests on Friday come one day after federal immigration agents arrested a Guatemalan man in the South End, according to family members.
That man, Jose Bonilla, 58, lives in Everett and was checking on one of three properties he owns in New Bedford. He was stopped by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the intersection of Roosevelt Street and Cove Road.
The ICE operations on Thursday and Friday in New Bedford come more than a month after the most recent reported local immigration arrests. On July 26, Jhovani Duvan Leiva Cornejo was arrested in the Port of New Bedford after returning from a fishing trip. On July 23, ICE, alongside the U.S. Coast Guard, detained Luis Guillermo Castro Alvarez. Two days before, ICE detained an undocumented Salvadoran man, Juan Carlos Abarca-Jovel.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
Two guys going to work? Does this mean that every single one of the violent criminals and drug dealers is off the street or just that ICE is going after soft targets to meet their quotas?
The message is clear for all illegals who do not have criminal records and everyone who supports them (friends, family, and advocates) they need to step forward and start completing their paper work, and if it’s started, make sure they’re following up, and there are no lingering issues. Being here legally is the only way this is going to stop.
Why do people keep getting knapped from their appointments then?
This is what happens when companies hire illegal migrants. They don’t care the individual
they care about making profit.
Because we know that there not paying the illegal migrant the right amount
To the person who wrote this: ‘This is what happens when companies hire illegal migrants. They don’t care the individual
they care about making profit.
Because we know that there not paying the illegal migrant the right amount’
Is this justification for arresting and deporting people – because they are underpaid and misused? We are punishing people and their families to protect them from exploitation?
I’m appalled. I was in Market Basket yesterday, and the person at the cash register was a middle aged white man wearing a huge gold watch. I said that it looked like ICE was around because there were no Guatemalan employees at the checkout counters. He said,”Yes, we need this done, those people are ruining our country.” This was the last place I expected to see such racism.