A Haitian migrant is accused of sexually assaulting a child in Mansfield, Massachusetts, federal officials confirmed Wednesday.
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston said they arrested 18-year-old Akim Marc Desire in Attleboro on Aug. 30. Desire was first arrested by Mansfield police on Aug. 28, charged with indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He was arraigned on Aug. 29.
Desire entered the country legally on June 4, 2023, according to ERO Boston, but the charges against him violated his terms of entry.
“Akim Marc Desire allegedly victimized a minor member of our Massachusetts community,” said Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons of ERO Boston in a media release. “We cannot tolerate such potentially dire threat to the welfare of children in our community.
Desire remains in ERO custody.
Earlier this year another Haitian migrant, Cory Alvarez, was arrested after he was accused of raping a 15-year-old at a hotel that serves as an emergency shelter for migrant families in Rockland, Massachusetts. Alvarez was in the country as part of the Biden Administration Humanitarian Parole Program or Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans Program (CHNV).
The state has been working to house an influx of migrants that's strained the state's shelter system, to the point that they've had to make changes to the system that de-prioritize new arrivals for placement.
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The system is currently at capacity with 7,500 families, which is what Healey implemented last year with hundreds more on a waiting list.
