Brazilian National Charged with Assaulting Federal Officers During His Arrest

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New England, today announced that LUIS PETERSON ROHR FERREIRA BORGES, 24, a citizen of Brazil, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with offenses related to his assaulting federal officers during his arrest.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, Ferreira Borges has a case pending in Connecticut Superior Court stemming from an arrest on September 16, 2023.  In that case, he is charged with assault of public safety, emergency medical, public transit or health care personnel; assault in the third degree; breach of peace in the second degree; interfering with an officer; and intimidation based on bigotry or bias in the first degree.  On October 10, 2023, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) issued an arrest warrant for Ferreira Borges charging him with being present in the United States in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

It is further alleged that on January 28, 2025, officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), located and attempted to apprehend Ferreira Borges in Hartford, but he fled in his vehicle.  Two ERO officers pushed themselves off the vehicle to avoid being run over.  Ferreira Borges then drove on a sidewalk and nearly hit a bystander before fleeing the scene.

It is further alleged that on June 7, 2025, federal law enforcement officers made another attempt to arrest Ferreira Borges pursuant to the DHS warrant in East Hartford.  Ferreira Borges led the officers on a lengthy foot chase before entering his vehicle, which had a license plate registered to another vehicle.  Ferreira Borges fled the scene, hitting a law enforcement vehicle with his car as he drove away.

It is further alleged that federal law enforcement officers apprehended Ferreira Borges in the area of Zion Street in Hartford on June 25, 2025.  Ferreira Borges was non-compliant and resisted arrest.  After being placed in a government vehicle, he kicked, flailed, and screamed obscenities at ERO officers.  As the vehicle traveled to the federal building on Main Street in Hartford, Ferreira Borges started to bite one ERO officer who tried to control him, and spit on a second ERO officer who was driving the vehicle.

Ferreira Borges is charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of eight years, and with influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a federal official, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of six years.

Ferreira Borges, who has been detained since his arrest, appeared yesterday in Hartford federal court.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.  Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).