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A Guatemalan immigrant was detained around noon on Monday in New Bedford’s North End, according to his family and local residents who spoke to The New Bedford Light.
The man, Luis Castro Castro, 44, was arrested in an operation involving about 10 immigration agents. The detention took place at a store located at 1273 Acushnet Avenue, whose former owner was convicted a year ago for selling fake government identification documents.
According to witnesses, a group of agents entered the store shortly before noon and, after checking the documents of the new owner and other individuals present — all of Guatemalan origin — took Castro Castro, as he was unable to prove he resides in the country with valid documents.
According to video footage of the operation obtained by The New Bedford Light, the agents spoke Spanish, did not wear uniforms or vests identifying them as immigration officials, and were led by a woman. “Sorry, have a nice day,” some of them said as they left with the detainee.
The store, formerly known as International Guatemala Musical and Fashion, was owned by Tomás Xirum, 48, who is currently serving a sentence for selling fake identification documents, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.
Upon noticing the presence of the agents, the store’s new owner contacted Adrián Ventura, president of the Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, whose office is just a few blocks away on Acushnet Avenue.
“She called me saying that ‘La Migra’ was conducting a raid. I was nearby, ran over, and at the entrance, I saw a woman with a radio,” Ventura recalled.
“They spoke to me very politely, and one of them said, ‘Yes, we’re from Immigration.’ We spoke in Spanish,” Ventura said. “I told them they had no right to detain people. One agent laughed at me. He said they had the right and could enter anywhere, even without a warrant,” Ventura said.
Agustina Castro, Luis Castro Castro’s partner, explained that she found out about his detention while she was at work. She immediately reached out to community aid services to explore ways to help secure his release.
Adrián Ventura confirmed that the agents said they had taken Luis Castro Castro to Burlington, where an ICE field office is located.
Email Gerardo Beltrán Salinas at gerardo@newbedfordlight.org
Here we go. But where are we going? We will lose a significant number of people who contribute to our local economy…
They cost our country.
Just to educate the children costs taxpayers.
They should come legally just like my family.
Damn right it cost way more to take care of of illegals than we will ever get back .
With approx 16000000 illegals in this country it cost the american people in the billions of dollars.
Why are you people so damned mad anyway .
I dont see you bitchin about every other country that deports illegals.
Go to Russia China North Korea,depotation will be your last worry cause they will kill you .
If you like illegals leave with them .
Im sure you will be treated like royalty in all these countries.
The people are hard workers. Where did your grandparents come from?
We need to get every person who is here in this country illegally and send them back to their country.
We have laws for a reason. How can you justify the person that evades the process of being able to stay here as opposed to the ones who are waiting for their case to be heard? Why have any laws at all. Let them all in and have complete chaos?
It’s about time. Anyone here without proper immigration documentation should be removed ASAP. They are costing the American taxpayers billions of dollars a year when receiving free housing, medical, food, educational services and more. Entering this country illegally is a crime. Check the federal immigration laws. And don’t delete my comment like you did previously. Everyone’s opinion should be protected.
Damned right but they dont want your/our apinions to be heard.
It is also illegal to hire undocumented workers but we don’t see any business owners going to jail. If undocumented workers costs the country billions it’s probably set off by the businesses making profit by paying the workers well below a fair wage and with absolutely no benefits ( this is my opinion, I don’t have real data to back this up) Now, an efficient government, ANY government would give people who want to work a work permit obtained before entrance for a period of time , let’s say 2 years and then review and renew if needed. However, that takes legislation and work, and what politician wants to do any real significant work?
Politicians ( all of them, mind you) need something to make us mad at each other, to make us take sides because it works on Election Day, it’s great television, and it pays the social media algorithm well.
I didn’t know that they took that sign off of the Statue of Liberty. I thought it was supposed to mean something.
So do I have this correct: a man who has not been charged with a crime was hanging out at a local business when immigration came in, without any uniforms on, and took him because he didn’t have papers/id on him? Am I missing something because that is extremely alarming!!!
Why is that, if you don’t have papers showing that you entered legally which you should be carrying on your person to prove your status, enter illegally and you have broken the law, stop saying we pay taxes and do jobs you don’t want to, we all pay taxes and we work at jobs we hate but we do it to support our families, blame Biden for telling you it was OK to come here, this is why he isn’t our President anymore.!!!!!!!
I don’t want to live in a country where you can get stopped on the street (or in a store) and asked for “your papers.” Naturally, “illegal” Brits and Scandinavians won’t have this problem.
People invoke that damn plaque on the Statue of Liberty by Emma Lazarus. That plaque was installed several years after the statue was erected and was an inspiration at that time. The economy was roaring along and immigrants were readily hired as needed.
Talk about a straw man. You must be all up in them NY Post comments too. So I guess you’re saying all the “illegal” Brits and Scandinavians weren’t “tired and poor” before coming here? Or are you saying the plaque should be changed to “give me your cheap labor when we need it”? Not following your logic here. ah. Never mind.
You Cary your birth
Certificate all the time?
The New Bedford light only allows comments from one side of the spectrum. Anything they do not like or agree with will be deleted.
Glad there making a sweep in New bedford
I dont understand what was the reason to check that guy what was he charged with alledged he had a family a wife and children and they worked the reason they were in NEW BEDFORD is cause its cheaper to live there why detain him its not fair to his wife and those poor kids are wondering where daddy is let him go back to them someone comment cause I dont understand what he did thankyou
They DO NOT have a right to enter anywhere they choose. That line in the article needs to be challenged in print as a follow to this story
It’s time to get back to basics, Immigrants are welcome, but come here legally, or do not come here at all. Governor Healey like the Biden / Harris Administration is putting Illegals before Americans (Veterans, Seniors, Families, Children, and Hard Working Citizens). It’s time for political change in Massachusetts.
But here we are a lot of hate vs hispanics Mexicans in particular… but i see you all in Mexican restaurants showing other colors…
When did it become legal to grab people off the street just because they don’t have citizenship documents with them? I don’t always carry my I.D. with me , am I subject to deportation? Sounds like these organizations will get away with evading federal law and abusing their authority because no one stands up to them.
Is this what you folks really like? Get rid of people that are not white or orange like the president!! Lets start with Mexicans and move onto blacks, gays , maybe women with no choices for their own bodies!! Trump is so hateful!! If you dont like him or Elon then you dont belong here, and he will make sure all our liberties vanish within the next 4 years!!
He is here illegally,that’s enough if a reason! Finally doing something about all the illegal people invading us!!
What can I, as a resident of New Bedford, do to help protect all those who live here? I agree with Doreen – this is only the beginning! If we do nothing this will grow into a greater loss of liberty!
Wow. I surprised to see so much hate coming from you folks. Look back at your own family tree. I would bet some of your ancestors immigrated from someplace else. Funny I don’t see Irish, English, Scandinavian or other white immigrants being targeted. Let’s be straight, illegal immigration didn’t start with the Biden administration. Stop trying to blame everything on Biden. The system broke down many many administrations ago.
Well said.
If you were at a business that was recently busted for being a front for drug dealing, would there be probable cause to search you for drugs in a raid later on?
If yes, then would you also be a valid suspect for immigration if found at a business recently busted for selling forged documents?
This is quite simple. People were at a place frequented by criminals buying forged documents and were questioned about their identities because of it.
Now if they really wanted to go after illegal immigrants, they’d institute a $250,000 fine per illegal hired by a business or leased to by a landlord. After a few businesses and landlords were made examples of, there wouldn’t be a single employer or landlord willing to do business with an illegal, resulting in the illegals going home on their own for lack of work and shelter.
How about ICE start within the prison system for deportations? As of July 2024, there were nearly 650,000 criminal illegal aliens in US prisons, according to data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Instead of invoking terror, in both illegal and legal individuals, let’s clean up our penal system from overcrowding and save $44.090,00 per federal prisoner per year.