BURLINGTON, MA- The arrest of an illegal Turkish national arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on rape charges in Massachusetts appeared to have been widely ignored by Boston-area media.
The Tampa Free Press (yes, Tampa, Florida) reported that Bilal Karayigit, 26, an illegal alien from Turkey, was arrested on February 19, accused of raping a Massachusetts resident.
According to a press release from March 14, ICE announced officers with ICE Boston apprehended Karayigit. He legally entered the United States on July 12, 2022, at JFK International Airport in New York- however, he later violated the terms of his admission, ICE said.
Karayigit was arraigned in Brighton District Court in Massachusetts on Dec. 5, 2023, charged with rape and indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years of age.
ICE lodged an immigration detainer later that day with the court, however, as is commonplace in blue states, the Brighton District Court ignored the detainer and released Karayigit from custody on April 24, 2024.
ICE @EROBoston arrests Turkish alien charged with raping Massachusetts resident. Local jurisdictions refused to honor ICE detainers.
— ERO Boston (@EROBoston) March 14, 2025
Link: https://t.co/OwkcEiT7w7 pic.twitter.com/ntFhIW8bOb
Just months later, on June 11, 2024, Karayigit was again arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston for rape, indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years of age, and kidnapping.
Only three months later, on Sept. 19, 2024, the Boston Police Department again arrested Karayigit on warrants stemming from his pending charges. The release said ICE again lodged a detainer with the Nasua Street Jail in Boston later that day. The jail ignored the immigration detainer and released the career criminal from custody on Sept. 26, 2024.
ICE served Karayigit with a notice to appear before the Justice Department immigration judge after his arrest, and he remains in ICE custody.
“Bilal Karayigit stands accused of brutally victimizing a resident of our community,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “He represents a significant threat to the members of our Massachusetts neighborhoods that ICE will not tolerate. We will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing illegal alien threats in New England.”
Massachusetts, in general, and Boston, in particular, have come under fire from border czar Tom Homan. Massachusetts’ intersectional governor, Maura Healey, publicly said the state will defy immigration laws and she will not allow the Massachusetts State Police to cooperate with ICE.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was called before a congressional committee last week along with several other big city mayors from so-called sanctuary cities.
Wu has likewise refused to allow her city’s police department to cooperate with ICE in removing violent criminal aliens, the primary focus of the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
