DHS criticizes city councilor after chaotic ICE arrest in Roslindale

Local News

A person’s vehicle was left abandoned in the middle of a Roslindale street after they were detained by ICE last week.

A spokesperson for the Trump administration directly called out a Boston City Council member this week who raised concerns about ICE activity in Roslindale. 

On Feb. 5, news reports circulated about ICE agents conducting an operation on Corinth Street. Witnesses told Boston 25 News that two unmarked Ford Explorers were seen circling Roslindale Square before the arrest. A local business owner told the station that he moved the car of the person who was detained after agents left the vehicle in the street with keys in the ignition. 

Councilor Enrique Pepén, who represents Roslindale, issued a statement afterwards saying that ICE “abducted a neighbor” in front of the Family Dollar. Community members contacted LUCE, a coalition of immigrant advocates that operates a hotline for reports of ICE activity in Massachusetts, and moved the car to a safer location, Pepén said. 

The councilor said that he happened to be at a nearby cafe around the time that the incident occurred. He sharply criticized the ICE operation. 

“To say that this is scary and not right is an understatement. I personally was coming out of Square Root after the incident, unaware of the heinous act that just occurred until business owners alerted me,” he said in a statement. “No one should be scared to do their daily errands regardless of their status — especially in our vibrant community. And no one should be witnessing these grave injustices.”

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said that this incident concerned an immigrant named Jose Perez-Antonio. She labeled him a “serial criminal illegal alien” who has been charged with identity theft and drug trafficking. She provided no other information about Perez-Antonio’s alleged crimes or his current status. 

Instead, McLaughlin focused on attacking Pepén. 

“Boston City Council member Enrique Pepen needs to stop with the smears. ICE did NOT abduct anyone. We did arrest a criminal that this sanctuary politician and his policies RELEASED [sic] from their jails to terrorize more innocent Americans,” she said. 

Pepén’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about McLaughlin’s statement.

Pepén is a supporter of the Boston Trust Act, which limits the ways in which local police can cooperate with ICE on matters of civil immigration enforcement. When attacking cities run by Democrats, Trump administration officials routinely blame “sanctuary” policies like these and the politicians who support them for ICE’s aggressive tactics. 

The City Council unanimously reaffirmed its support for the Trust Act ahead of President Donald Trump’s second term. Even if the City Council and Mayor Michelle Wu were to dramatically reverse course and rescind the Trust Act, Boston police would still be limited in their ability to cooperate with ICE under a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court decision. 

Boston police received 57 total detainer requests from ICE in 2025 and ignored all of them in accordance with the Trust Act. When ICE identifies that local police have detained a person eligible for deportation, they send these detainer requests to ask that the police keep the person detained for longer than they normally would so that ICE can take custody of them. 

The Roslindale arrest occurred on the same day that Wu and other municipal leaders announced a series of actions designed to rein in ICE. The mayor banned federal officials from using city property to stage operations and directed local police to investigate any potential crimes committed by federal agents. 

Last month, Gov. Maura Healey also announced steps to limit how ICE can operate in Massachusetts. 

The developments come as the Trump administration continues to enact its mass deportation agenda. DHS is reportedly working to secure massive new warehouses for detainees that would dwarf the country’s largest federal prisons. Detainees, many without any criminal records, are already facing dire conditions in detention centers. Those locked up include hundreds of children. 

“Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.,” McLaughlin said in her statement. 

Official statistics do not back up the administration’s claims that it is targeting “the worst of the worst.” Just 14% of those detained by ICE during the administration’s first year had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, CBS News reported this week. 

After the Roslindale arrest, Pepén told his social media followers to save the LUCE hotline number to their phones and to “always” call it if there is suspected ICE activity. 

“It’s going to take a village for all us to be able to combat what’s happening, this inhumanity, this injustice that is happening across our country,” he said. “Obviously it’s right here in Boston, but it’s everywhere at this moment.”