US

Haitian National To Face Immigration Judge After Being Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Child

Immigrant charged with sex abuse

wikimedia commons/public/Matthew Daley, CC BY-SA 4.0

Dana Abizaid Contributor
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Police in Massachusetts charged an 18-year-old Haitian national with sexual assault against a minor, immigration officials said Monday.

Authorities apprehended Akim Marc Desire in Attleboro last Wednesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a child under 14, according to a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Officials said that a 10-year-old boy accompanied by his mother came to the Mansfield Police Station and reported that the alleged assault happened at a neighbor’s home, WHDH reported. (RELATED: 2 Illegal Immigrants Charged In Alleged Sexual Assault Of 12-Year-Old Girl)

After investigators tracked down Desire, they used a Haitian Creole translator to question him about the alleged crime, according to WHDH.

Officials said that Desire denied the alleged misconduct and said, “…I don’t speak English how, would I talk to him?”

The suspect entered the United States legally in June 2023 but violated the terms of that entry, immigration officials said in the statement.

Mansfield Police Chief Ronald Sellon said that violation was connected to not checking “in when he crossed the border,” WHDH reported.

Desire, who was arraigned in Attleboro Thursday, was arrested by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston Friday and summoned to appear in immigration court, according to the statement.

“We cannot tolerate such a potentially dire threat to the welfare of children in our community,” ERO Director Todd Lyons said. “Enforcement and Removal Operation Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from our New England neighborhoods.”

Desire’s arrest comes at a time when Haitian immigration has become a major issue for the state’s government.

Last month governor Maura Healey introduced measures aimed at decreasing the number of migrants living in shelters, NBC10 reported. Some of those measures led to police removing migrants from sleeping outside public transit stations.

Authorities are currently holding Desire at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, WHDH reported.