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A migrant center resident who allegedly molested a 12-year-old Manchester girl had recently finished his probation on a federal identity theft conviction.

Angel M. Rivera-Laureano, 59, was arrested last month at the migrant shelter in Chelmsford, Mass., on the Manchester warrant, according to court records obtained by the Maine Wire. But Rivera-Laureano’s known criminal history goes back to at least 2012, when he was caught cashing counterfeit IRS checks in the Queen City, according to court records.

The Maine Wire quotes a “law enforcement source with knowledge of the case” that Rivera-Laureano is a suspected illegal immigrant using different names and identities since coming to the U.S.

“The source said Jan. 1 is a birthday frequently used for illegal aliens living under assumed identities and that law enforcement isn’t even certain Rivera-Laureano is his real name,” the Maine Wire reported.

Rivera-Laureano’s story adds to the drumbeat of crime news involving migrants. On Monday, two New York City police officers were wounded in a shootout with a Venezuelan man who was in the country illegally. 

According to the New York Post, a judge closed the immigration case against alleged shooter Bernardo Castro Mata, 19 on May 6. Mata illegally crossed the border into Eagle Pass, Texas, where he was caught and arrested but later released in July 2023, according to the report.

President Joe Biden is finally bowing to pressure on the border. On Tuesday, he announced an executive order closing down ports of entry to those seeking asylum. But Biden’s move after years of stalling is not enough, says Republican gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte.

“Joe Biden’s open-border policies have allowed millions of unvetted illegal immigrants into our nation and made our country less safe. Biden’s political move today is too little too late and does not do enough to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into our country” Ayotte said.

Ayotte, a former U.S. senator, is facing former state Senate President Chuck Morse in the GOP primary for governor.

“This horrific example illustrates how weak border policies make every state a border state, inviting drugs, crime, and gang activity to New England,” Morse said. “Candidates like Kelly Ayotte, who voted to give amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants, are no better than Joe Biden and can’t be trusted to suddenly grow a backbone on this issue. As governor, I will always protect New Hampshire families and will not back down from maintaining strong stances on immigration.”

The Ayotte campaign pushed back against Morse’s claim.

“Kelly Ayotte has never and will never support amnesty. Chuck Morse can’t rewrite history — he killed the sanctuary city ban and didn’t use E-Verify at his own company,” said spokesperson John Corbett.

Neither of the two major Democratic candidates for governor, former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig or Executive Councilor Cindy Warmington, responded to a request for comment. Craig’s previously expressed openness to so-called sanctuary cities. Warmington has said that while she’s not a fan, she would not seek to ban them. Ayotte said Craig and Warmington are not going to protect Granite Staters.

“Joyce Craig and Cinde Warmington support [Biden’s] disastrous policies and would turn New Hampshire into a sanctuary state. As Governor, I’ll never allow that to happen, and I will work every day to protect Granite Staters.”

U.S. Marshals caught Rivera-Laureano at a taxpayer-funded shelter operated by the state of Massachusetts, according to the Maine Wire. The converted Best Western hotel is now a shelter for illegal aliens or homeless U.S. citizens. Why Rivera-Laureano was living at the shelter is unknown. Court records list two addresses, the shelter and a home in Chelmsford, Mass. 

Rivera-Laureano was sentenced to three years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to several counts including aggravated identity theft and fraud in 2013. He reportedly had fake drivers licenses made for an accomplice he recruited in New York, and the pair went north to cash the fake IRS checks in Manchester where they were caught.

Rivera-Laureano’s exact immigration status isn’t clear from available court records. His plea agreement and sentencing memorandum do not reference his immigration status being put at risk for the plea. There is a note in the sentencing order written by Judge Joseph Laplante recommending that Rivera-Laureano be allowed to serve his incarceration as close to Manchester as possible.

After his release in 2016, Rivera-Laureano was ordered to be on supervised probation for another three years, according to the sentencing order. That means Rivera-Laureano was free and clear as of spring 2019.

Rivera-Laureano came to live with an aunt in New York at age 16 after suffering abuse from his heroin-addict mother and her family, according to his sentencing memo. His father had abandoned the family when he was a small child, the memo states.

“It is clear that the defendant experienced a deeply deprived upbringing which left him unprepared for adulthood, the ramifications of which continue to this day,” the memo states.

Rivera-Laureano’s now being held without bail at Valley Street Jail in Manchester. He’s due in court for an arraignment in July. 

Sen. Maggie Hassan was supposed to be talking up infrastructure spending during President Joe Biden’s visit Tuesday. But she spent much of her day dodging protests from Granite State progressives and members of the local Latino community. They are upset by Hassan’s reversal on immigration policy and a video she released standing in front of Trump’s border wall calling for more “physical barriers.”

Protesters gathered or posted signs at various spots along Hassan’s route in Portsmouth as she traveled with the president. “Hassan + Pappas, NH Welcomes Immigrants,” one sign read. One of the organizers is Rep. Maria Perez (D-Milford), who resigned from the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s Latino Caucus last week in protest of Hassan and Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) announcing their support for Title 42. That is the emergency authorization used to turn away more than one million undocumented migrants at the border last year.

“No cages, no walls! @SenatorHassan and @ChrisPappasNH We need a real plan to increase capacity and resources to manage the needs of migrants seeking entry at the border, not a continuation of racist, misguided and inhumane policies,” Perez tweeted from the protest.

Progressives who have worked for Hassan in the past have denounced her new, more pro-enforcement policy positions on immigration.

Perez said Tuesday afternoon she has not been able to speak to Hassan about her recent call for more barriers on the border, and other right-leaning policies the senator has adopted in a tough election year.

“The response that I got from her office is that she’s too busy,” Perez said.

Hassan tried using her trip to the southern border to shoot campaign videos in which she unconvincingly promised to get tough and push for more physical barriers. Hassan repeatedly voted against funding a border wall when Donald Trump was president — the same wall she used as a prop in her video, with barbed wire hanging over her head.

Granite State immigration activists were irate. “That was the last kick in the butt for the immigrant community, and all of us as Latinos,” said Eva Castillo, executive director of the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees. Some progressives called on Hassan to apologize.

Hassan has refused. She also refused to respond to requests for comment from NHJournal.

Perez said immigrant advocates want to express their views to her in person, but Hassan is avoiding them. She plans to keep up the pressure until Hassan responds in some way.

“I’m not taking a no from her office anymore. A lot of people in the community have been so disappointed. We’re just asking for time to talk to her and she’s refusing to meet with us. She’s too busy to meet with us, but she’s not too busy to go to the border,” Perez said.

Clifton West, Jr., a founder of Black Lives Matter’s Seacoast chapter, also protested the two Democrats’ actions, urging them via Twitter to “support immigrant communities and stop hijacking COVID relief funds to support a Trump policy, Title 42. New Hampshire residents stand in solidarity with migrants’ rights to seek asylum.”

The Title 42 issue puts Hassan and Pappas at odds with Biden. Both members of Congress back legislation to block the administration’s plan to end the policy. The progressive action group Rights and Democracy is demanding the two New Hampshire lawmakers “remove their co-sponsorship from bills that would indefinitely block asylum access for immigrants at the U.S. border, as President Biden finally moves to end harmful, racist Title 42.”

Perez said members of the Latino community are also being ignored by Pappas and his team as well.

“I’m a Democrat. But with everything going on these days, I’m embarrassed to call myself a Democrat,” she said.

Dartmouth College joined 16 other leading universities in a legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order, arguing that the travel ban has “damaging effects” on its research capabilities and is preventing them from recruiting and educating the world’s best talent.

The amicus brief was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, supporting a civil action brought by the attorney general of New York and several colleges including, Brown University. Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Duke University, and others.

The brief argues that “because [universities] seek to educate future leaders from nearly every continent, attract the world’s best scholars, faculty and students, and work across international borders, they rely on the ability to welcome international students, faculty and scholars into their communities. The executive order at issue in this case threatens that ability and creates significant hardship for [the schools’] valued international students, faculty and scholars.”

The controversial executive order was one of the first actions Trump took since his inauguration in January. He has vowed to keep radical Islamic terrorism out of the United States and he signed the order last month creating a temporary ban on allowing people to enter the country from Iran, Iraq, Libya Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, as well as a temporary suspension on allowing refugees into the country.

Supporters of the ban agree with the stricter vetting of immigrants coming into the United States and a tightening of borders. Opponents say the ban is nothing more than a religious test, as Trump tries to keep Muslims out of the country.

Lawsuits attempting to block the ban were quickly filed and a federal appeals court upheld a hold on the order last week, allowing for people to enter the United States who were previously blocked. Trump’s team said they were still weighing their legal options as they work to put the order back in place.

Some of the biggest news stories when Trump’s order was in place were from college campuses. For many students, faculty, and staff, their semester was just starting when Trump signed the order, leaving many academics from the seven-banned questions to worry if they would be able to return to their studies.

“Dartmouth College counts among its core values embracing diversity with the knowledge that it significantly enhances the quality of a Dartmouth education, as well as fostering lasting bonds among faculty, staff, and students, which encourage a culture of integrity, self-reliance, and collegiality and instill a sense of responsibility for each other and for the broader world,” the college said in the brief.

In the brief, the colleges argue that the order deters international students, faculty, and scholars from studying at American institutions.

Dartmouth claims 9 percent of its undergraduate students and 29.4 percent of its graduate students are international, with 15 students, scholars, and staff coming from Iran or Iraq.

The college also pointed to notable foreign leaders and diplomats among its alumni, including Kul Gautam, a citizen of Nepal and the former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, Paavo Lipponen, the former Prime Minister of Finland, and Gordon Campbell, the former Premier of British Columbia.

The brief argued that the order would “impede successful academic collaboration” in the United States. Since thousands of conferences and symposia are held at universities every year, they have become “incubators for innovation and thrive on the free flow of information and ideas.”

“A faculty member at Dartmouth planning a conference for next fall has expressed concern that participants may not be able or willing to travel to the United States, and one keynote speaker wonders whether it ‘sends the wrong message’ to attend a conference in the U.S. at this time,” the brief states.

Dartmouth has been one of the leading academic institutions offering resistance to some of Trump’s immigration policies.

College President Phil Hanlon and nearly 50 other college and university presidents sent Trump a letter on February 2, after he signed his order, asking him to “rectify or rescind” it.

“The order specifically prevents talented, law-abiding students and scholars from the affected regions from reaching our campuses,” the letter states. “American higher education has benefited tremendously from this country’s long history of embracing immigrants from around the world.”

In a campus-wide email sent on January 29, Hanlon advised students affected by the seven-nation ban to avoid all international travel.

In November 2016, Hanlon signed a statement in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Programs — a program where more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally obtained temporary relief from deportation.

Dartmouth students were concerned after Trump was elected that he would overturn former President Barack Obama’s executive order creating the program, so they started an online petition asking for Dartmouth College to become a “sanctuary” school for undocumented students. University officials pledged to protect and support those students “within the bounds of the law.”

It remains to be seen what will happen as a result of the brief filed by the colleges opposing the executive order, but university officials believe that “safety and security concerns can be addressed in a manner that is consistent with the values America has always stood for, including the free flow of ideas and people across borders and the welcoming of immigrants to our universities.”

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