According to ICE, a Democratic state released an illegal immigrant who allegedly sexually abused a person with “severe” mental disabilities

Rhode Island law enforcement released an illegal immigrant accused of sexually assaulting a person with a “severe” mental disability despite an outstanding warrant for his arrest, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE agents have arrested Rigberto Hoyos-Alban, a 33-year-old Colombian national, who is charged with multiple assault and sex offenses, the agency said Thursday. ICE is sharply criticizing Rhode Island authorities for releasing the illegal immigrant back into the community despite an immigration detention order against him. (RELATED: Blue State releases illegal immigrant convicted of killing two children despite ICE detention)

“Rigberto Hoyos-Alban has been charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of assault against a person with severe intellectual disability,” said Todd M. Lyons, director of ERO’s New England field office, in a statement. “This is not the type of person we want walking the streets of our New England neighborhoods.”

“ERO Boston will continue to make the safety of our people our highest priority by apprehending and removing violent aliens from our communities,” Lyons continued.

NEW YORK – MAY 11: Special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) escort members of a Mexican gang to court after their arrest on May 11, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

According to ICE, border patrol agents arrested Hoyos-Alban in November 2023 after he illegally entered the United States near the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. He was subsequently given a summons to appear before an immigration judge and released on parole.

Central Falls police officers arrested Hoyos-Alban on March 13 and charged him with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault and aggravated battery on a mentally disabled person, ICE said. The next day, deportation officials filed an immigration arrest warrant for him at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute. (RELATED: Local authorities ignored arrest warrant and released illegal immigrant convicted of sex crimes against a child, ICE says)

However, the agency said the facility ignored the order and released Hoyos-Alban from custody.

The deportation officials managed to arrest the illegal immigrant on their own initiative in Cranston, Rhode Island, on May 22, the agency said. He will remain in their custody until the outcome of his deportation proceedings is known.

This is not the first time that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has criticized Rhode Island officials for ignoring their detention requests and releasing criminal aliens from local custody. The agency issued a press release earlier this year about authorities releasing an illegal immigrant from Guatemala accused of child abuse from their custody despite the fact that an immigration warrant had been issued against him.

The Center for Immigration Studies lists Rhode Island as a sanctuary area, citing a policy directive from the then governor in July 2014.

ICE has recently focused particularly on communities in New England, issuing press releases to local authorities in Massachusetts and Connecticut for refusing to grant requests for immigration detention of criminal aliens. Crime by illegal immigrants has prompted authorities in nearby New York City to introduce legislation rolling back its sanctuary city laws.

The Rhode Island Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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