The Boston field office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Monday, via social media, the arrest of a Haitian national in the Boston area. “On Feb. 20, ICE Boston arrested Roodney Cleeford Martinez, a criminal illegal alien from Haiti,” the agency’s post states. “Martinez has an extensive criminal history with 28 adult arraignments since he entered the United States,” ICE Boston added.
However, ICE did not specify the type of charges against Mr. Martinez, the circumstances of his arrest, or his immigration status at the time of the incident.
The agency also did not clarify whether the 28 arraignments resulted in any convictions.
Under American law, an arraignment is the defendant’s initial appearance before a court, during which the charges are formally read. An arraignment constitutes neither proof of guilt nor a conviction.
CTN cannot independently verify the information that ICE published at the time of this article’s publication.
Intensifying Operations
This arrest marks part of a series of ongoing ICE operations in Massachusetts since the start of President Trump’s second term.
The agency carried out Operation Patriot, followed by Operation Patriot 2.0, during which more than 1,400 undocumented individuals were arrested in the state, according to figures released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in December 2025.
ICE’s Boston field office has ramped up public communications regarding the arrests of foreign nationals with criminal records, as part of a nationwide DHS strategy aimed at highlighting what the administration describes as the “worst of the worst” among undocumented individuals.
Data obtained by GBH News indicate that at least 54 arrests took place in Boston municipal courthouses during 2025, a practice that has drawn criticism from immigrant rights advocates.
The Haitian Community Under Pressure
For the Haitian community in Massachusetts, this arrest comes at a particularly fraught time. The approximately 350,000 Haitian beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) are currently protected by Judge Ana C. Reyes’s order, which blocked Secretary Noem’s attempt to terminate TPS for Haiti. But that judicial protection is the subject of an appeal before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and its outcome remains uncertain.
At the same time, the Trump administration has proposed a new regulation aimed at restricting access to work permits for asylum seekers, a measure that would directly affect many Haitians who entered through the Biden-era humanitarian parole program.
In this context, immigrant rights organizations remind the public that any person arrested by ICE retains certain rights, including the right to a hearing before an immigration judge and, in some cases, the right to release on bond. They encourage anyone affected to consult an immigration attorney before responding to federal agents’ questions.
CTN reports the facts as announced by federal authorities and endeavors to independently verify all published information. Persons charged with offenses are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
