PROVIDENCE — US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant accused of molesting a Rhode Island girl.
Feliz Meletz Guarcas, 45, was arrested by ICE officers on Nov. 20, when the Rhode Island Department of Corrections released him to home confinement, the agency said in a statement.
Meletz Guarcas was released despite an active immigration detainer filed by ICE, agency officials said.
Detainers are requests that ask state or law enforcement officers to notify ICE as soon as possible before a “removable noncitizen” is released and to hold that person in custody for up to 48 additional hours, according to ICE.
Patricia H. Hyde, the acting Boston field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operation, said ICE uses the detainers as “public safety tools.”
“We asked the Rhode Island Department of Corrections to hold Meletz Guarcas so we could take him into custody in their facility, but he was released to home confinement,” Hyde said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, the Department of Corrections doesn’t turn over home confinement releases, so a team of our officers were forced to arrest him in a public parking lot in Cranston, rather than a controlled environment in a custodial setting.”
A spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday morning.
Court records show Meletz Guarcas was initially arrested by Providence police in September 2023. He was later indicted on May 15 in Providence Superior Court on one count of first-degree child molestation and sexual assault and five counts of second-degree child molestation and sexual assault.
This story will be updated.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.