Liberal Nantucket moved away from immigrant crime wave as Biden spends Thanksgiving at wealthy friend’s mansion

The Biden family arrived. Nantucket Island Tuesday for his final presidential Thanksgiving despite a wave of immigrant crimes that have plagued the holiday hot spot this year.

A small crowd watched as Air Force One touched down at Nantucket Memorial Airport just before 6 p.m., and a presidential motorcade drove the first family away. Nantucket Current Reported

The president’s arrival created a buzz during a normally quiet holiday week on the island. Hotels in the island’s historic downtown district were fully booked with White House correspondents and Secret Service officials, the local outlet reported.

About a dozen Massachusetts state troopers arrived with motorcycles via Steamship Authority ferry on Monday, and the vehicles and supplies have been dropped off by a series of Air Force C-17s over the past three days. More than 200 turkey dinners will be cooked for Secret Service agents at the Ferry Grounds restaurant.

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For the past three years, the Bidens have stayed at an estate owned by private equity billionaire David Rubinstein that overlooks Nantucket Harbor, and their visit this year continues a 40-year tradition of vacationing on the island, Current reports. has happened

The Nantucket visit comes after illegal immigrants were apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials there earlier this fall.

Five immigrants from Guatemala and El Salvador were picked up by Boston’s ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in a 48-hour period in September. Fox News Digital previously reported.. Since August, the agency has arrested at least eight illegal immigrants on various criminal charges on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

On September 10, 28-year-old Salvadoran immigrant Brian Daniel Aldana-Arevalo was charged with one count of child rape with a 10-year age difference and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

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ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons said Aldana-Arevalo “represents a significant threat to the children of our Massachusetts communities,” in a press release at the time of her arrest. Officials said that the deceased was only 12 years old.

That day, Aldana-Arevalo and Elmer Sola, another Salvadoran immigrant charged with 11 counts of sex crimes against a child, which Lyons said occurred on Nantucket, were quietly taken to the mainland by ferry in handcuffs. .

Sola was arrested Aug. 14 with an ankle monitor, charged and released on the condition that he stay away from the victim and the victim’s family, according to the Current. However, nine days later, he returned to court after allegedly violating the terms of his pre-release trial.

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On September 11, agents returned to the popular vacation spot to arrest Brazilian illegal immigrant Jeon do Amaral Belfronte and Guatemalan illegal immigrant Felix Alberto Perez Gomez. Lyons said both had committed sex crimes against Nantucket residents.

Belfronte entered the United States legally in 2018 but voluntarily left in 2021 after an alleged assault. He re-entered the country illegally and was picked up on an arrest warrant in March. After his arrest, Nantucket District Court released him on $500 cash bail or $5,000 surety bond, according to court records and the Boston ERO.

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Angel Gabriel Deras-Mejia, a known member of El Salvador’s MS-13 gang, was taken into custody on the island on September 12 by the agency.[ed] A significant threat to the residents of Nantucket.”

Derras-Mejia was arrested in July at Discovery Playground on Old South Road. Nantucket police wrote that he was “intoxicated and cursing, flailing his arms, yelling loudly and distracting all citizens at the scene” and leaving the children in tears. Reportedly, he and the mother of his child were arguing over who would take their child home. Current. In August, he was arrested again for assaulting and beating a household member.

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Toby Brown, head of the Nantucket GOP and a Nantucket resident for three decades, was among the few on the island to openly express concerns about illegal immigration after the arrests.

“We need to have this conversation and not just carry on… the idea that if you’re upset in some way, you’re a racist… People don’t need to be afraid to just speak up,” Brown previously told Fox News Digital. “The island was more troubled when Kevin Spacey was charged in 2016. [than the recent sex crimes allegedly perpetrated by illegal immigrants]” he said.

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“[The ICE arrests were] No surprise to us, Brown said. “When you follow the court reports over the last year or so, there have been quite a few violent arrests… Maybe it was surprising that ICE came here, but not surprising that they had to. Here. Come out.”

Brown said most immigrants on the beautiful island off the coast of Cape Cod are good and active community members, including those who live there illegally. He said that many of his friends and colleagues are immigrants. However, many residents are still concerned about those fleeing violent pasts in their home countries.

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“We owe it to our immigrants who came here, whether they were legal or not,” he said. “There are a lot of them who just want a better life. And they come here, and they’re doing their best. They raise their kids here, and they don’t want this crime.”

“They didn’t come to Nantucket to live like they did to El Salvador or Mexico or wherever,” he added.