BROCKTON — The Brockton District Court released a Haitian illegal immigrant with a pending rape charge back onto the street after ignoring an ICE detainer, and ICE Boston had to re-arrest him themselves, the agency said Thursday.

The immigrant, Danilo Michel, was taken back into ICE custody on June 30 during targeted enforcement operations in Brockton, according to the ICE Boston field office (ERO Boston). Michel is from Haiti. His criminal record includes a pending charge for rape.

ICE had lodged a detainer with the Brockton District Court asking that Michel be held after his court appearance so agents could take custody of him. Under the Trump administration's stepped-up enforcement posture, ICE detainers on illegal immigrants with pending violent felony charges are treated as top-priority takedowns.

The court did not honor the detainer. Michel was released.

ICE Boston hit back publicly on X Thursday morning: "ERO Boston will continue to do what sanctuary politicians refuse to do: keep dangerous criminal aliens off the streets of New England."

Massachusetts's sanctuary-jurisdiction posture — driven by SJC rulings, gubernatorial executive orders, and municipal ordinances — has kept local courts and sheriffs from honoring most ICE detainers for years. The pattern is well-established. What the ERO Boston post makes clear is that ICE is prepared to burn resources re-arresting the same individuals rather than let them stay on the street.