BOSTON—Federal agents just did what Beacon Hill and City Hall wouldn’t: they hauled in a Brazilian criminal alien with a violent rap sheet that should have had him deported years ago.

ICE says Ruan Daniel Junio De Oliveira Lima, in the U.S. illegally, was finally taken into custody after piling up convictions for assault and battery on a family member and repeatedly violating an abuse prevention order. Instead of being turned over to immigration authorities earlier, he was left to walk free under Massachusetts’ “sanctuary” rules.

It’s the same story residents have heard before: Gov. Maura Healey has burned through billions of taxpayer dollars on the migrant crisis while violent offenders slip through the cracks. Mayor Michelle Wu, meanwhile, refuses to cooperate with ICE, turning Boston into a revolving door for criminal aliens who know the city will give them cover.

Now Lima sits in ICE custody, awaiting removal. But the bigger issue looms: how many more predators are still on Boston’s streets because politicians would rather pick fights with ICE than protect the people they were elected to serve?