BOSTON — ICE Boston says it has arrested a convicted murderer who was ordered deported nearly three decades ago — and is using the case to blast Massachusetts’ sanctuary politics as “sad, pathetic, and deadly.”

According to ICE Boston, agents arrested Khambor Phouthongseng on February 9. ICE says Phouthongseng is an illegal immigrant from Laos with a criminal record that includes Massachusetts convictions for second-degree murder and kidnapping.

ICE says the kicker is this: Phouthongseng was ordered removed from the United States in 1997 — yet remained in the country for decades afterward.

In a sharply worded statement posted online, ICE Boston accused “sanctuary politicians” of prioritizing criminals over public safety, arguing that local and state policies routinely obstruct federal immigration enforcement even when offenders have violent records.

“While ICE fights to keep our law-abiding citizens and communities safe, sanctuary politicians fight for these dangerous criminals,” the agency wrote. “Sad, pathetic, and deadly.”

While ICE fights to keep our law-abiding citizens and communities safe, sanctuary politicians fight for these dangerous criminals! Sad, pathetic, and deadly! https://t.co/JU0zWd7qA1— ICE Boston (@EROBoston) February 10, 2026

The arrest comes amid growing frustration from federal officials who say Massachusetts’ sanctuary framework makes it harder to transfer violent offenders from local custody into ICE custody, even after serious felony convictions.

Critics of the state’s policies argue cases like Phouthongseng’s expose a systemic failure — where deportation orders are ignored, cooperation is refused, and dangerous offenders fall through the cracks until federal agents track them down years later.

Supporters of sanctuary laws counter that such policies protect immigrant communities and prevent overreach, but ICE officials say violent felons were never supposed to be part of that conversation.

For ICE Boston, the message was blunt: this arrest didn’t happen because of sanctuary policies — it happened in spite of them.