EAST BOSTON — A Boston judge released a Colombian illegal immigrant on personal recognizance after he allegedly shoved a police officer during an argument over a parking spot. He never made it out of the courthouse.
ICE agents were waiting in the lockup.
The case, first reported by WBUR, is resurfacing as Massachusetts lawmakers move to ban ICE from making arrests inside courthouses entirely. The state Senate passed a bill on April 30 that would block federal agents from arresting people in courthouses on civil immigration matters — unless they have a judicial warrant. Governor Healey has pushed the effort since January, arguing that ICE courthouse arrests are scaring people away from court and stalling criminal cases.
But this case shows exactly why ICE does it: because $0 bail means the courthouse door is their only reliable shot.
Alejandro Orrego Agudelo, 27, was arrested on November 21 on Falcon Street in East Boston after a dispute with a neighbor who had moved his moped to free up a parking space. According to police, Orrego kicked the neighbor's car and damaged the bumper, then confronted the neighbor in the street.
Alejandro Orrego Agudelo. Photo via GoFundMe. The fundraiser appears to have been deactivated.
When a Boston police officer responded, Orrego allegedly pulled out his cellphone and shoved it in the officer's face, then pushed the officer in the chest. He was charged with assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, malicious destruction of property, and disturbing the peace.
Orrego's account was different. He told WBUR the officer grabbed him first. Body camera footage appeared to support his version of events, according to the report.
It didn't matter. A judge at East Boston District Court released him on personal recognizance — effectively $0 bail.
ICE was already there
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At approximately 4:30 p.m. — hours after his release — two Customs and Border Protection agents were waiting in the court lockup. Orrego had entered the country illegally in 2022 and was on their radar.
What followed was a half-hour struggle. Orrego screamed "I can't go back to Colombia," according to the report. He allegedly bit one of the federal agents and attempted a wrist lock. Two court officers and additional agents were called in to restrain him.
As agents wrestled Orrego into custody outside the courthouse, a crowd of activists and bystanders gathered on the sidewalk, filming the scene on their phones and shouting at the federal agents. Video from an East Boston neighborhood watch group captured the chaotic aftermath:
He was taken into ICE custody and held at Plymouth County jail for four months.
Asylum claim
Orrego's immigration attorney, Daniela Hargus of the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project, argued that her client was claiming asylum based on persecution for being gay in Colombia.
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"This was a case that, at first glance, would look like a really easy case to lose," Hargus told WBUR.
A federal judge eventually ordered an immigration judge to hold a bond hearing. The immigration judge, based in Chelmsford, approved a $7,500 bond, and Orrego was released.
Meanwhile, the criminal charges from the parking spot incident were dismissed after Orrego wrote an apology letter to his neighbor. Judge Connor Barusch of East Boston District Court signed off on the dismissal.
The bigger picture
ICE made at least 614 arrests in state courthouses in 2025 — more than double the 282 recorded in 2024. The Massachusetts House already passed the PROTECT Act in March with a 134-21 vote, barring civil immigration arrests in courthouses without a judicial warrant. Healey signed an executive order in January with similar restrictions for state facilities.
Critics of the ban say cases like Orrego's prove exactly why ICE stations agents in courthouses: judges release people who entered the country illegally on $0 bail, and without a courthouse presence, federal agents have no other way to find them.
So to recap: an illegal immigrant who entered the country in 2022 shoved a Boston cop, got $0 bail, bit an ICE agent, spent four months in jail, posted $7,500 bond in immigration court, had his criminal charges dismissed with an apology letter, and is now free while his asylum case plays out.
The parking spot is presumably still available.
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