Waltham family searching for answers after New Year’s Eve ICE arrest
Waltham resident Edvin Alvarez was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in front of Corado’s Automotive at 103 Clematis Ave. around noon on Dec. 31, according to his son, Aviel Alvarez.
Edvin Alvarez moved to the United States from Guatemala in 1991 and graduated from Waltham High School in 1997. Aviel Alvarez said his father has owned a landscaping company in Waltham for 20 years and holds a federal Employment Authorization Document allowing him to work in the U.S. He was working toward getting a permanent resident card and citizenship.
Edvin Alvarez is currently being held in the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Plymouth and is scheduled to appear before an immigration judge on Jan. 15, according to his niece, Kathy Tavera.
Tavera said Edvin Alvarez spoke about conditions in the facility during a phone call on Jan. 1.
“There is no heat or AC in here, the bathroom is right next to my bed, and I’m just grateful to have socks,” Tavera quoted her uncle as saying.
According to Tavera, Edvin Alvarez doesn’t have a criminal record. She said he told her that he doesn’t know why he was targeted.
When Edvin Alvarez arrived at the ICE Boston Field Office in Burlington for processing, he was told he was no longer eligible to obtain a permanent resident card, according to Tavera.
According to Aviel Alvarez, his father had his EAD sticker on his vehicle at the time of his arrest. Tavera said the EAD was valid, with an expiration date in 2029.
Aviel Alvarez said nobody has been given a clear explanation for the arrest.
“It is awful when you’re getting pulled over and you’re surrounded by unknown vehicles and agents who don’t tell you who they are, no warrant, and they don’t tell you why they’re picking you up — they just tell you to shut up and they want you to do what they want you to do, no space to breathe,” Edvin Alvarez said in the phone call with Tavera. “They don’t let you call anyone, they just grab you like if you’re something they just need to grab and take.”
Former Waltham City Councilor-at-Large Carl Cincotta said he has known Edvin Alvarez and his family for at least 25 years, both as a landlord and a friend.
“I’ve known Edvin for many years. He is a loving father and devoted family man who is an asset to our community,” Cincotta wrote on Facebook following the arrest.
According to Cincotta, many of his tenants have seen ICE arrest people without criminal records in the past. “It obviously makes people afraid,” Cincotta said in a Jan. 2 interview with The Waltham Times.
Both Aviel Alvarez and Tavera echoed Cincotta’s sentiments.
Aviel Alvarez said even though his father was working toward obtaining a permanent resident card, the senior Alvarez had been worried about ICE before the arrest took place.
“We had already talked as a family about protocols and what we would do if something like this ever occurred,” Aviel Alvarez said.
Tavera said the family has experienced this before, which has made Edvin Alvarez’s arrest even more triggering.
“It’s not fair at all. It’s horrible for any good, hard-working person here to be ripped out of their family,” Tavera said.
Aviel Alvarez said his dad’s arrest has not only brought emotional and financial hardship to his family but has had an impact on a larger scale as well.
“He’s someone people personally know and care about,” he said, “My friends, neighbors, people who see him working, at the gym, or at church, he’s always been friendly and present in the community.”
ICE arrested 8,848 people in New England between Jan. 20 and Dec. 2, 2025, more than four times as many as during the same period in 2024, WBUR reported in a story on Dec. 23, 2025.
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How can someone be arrested for following the law? This regime is out of control.
The Trump regime pardons major drug traffickers like Juan Orlando Hernández (who was convicted of trafficking 400 tons of cocaine into the US among other crimes), while using ICE to illegally abduct hard working people off the street (including legal residents and US citizens) and deprive them of due process, simply because of the color of their skin or speaking Spanish or English with an accent. Meanwhile, ICE’s funding is increasing almost 3-fold in 2026 from 2025’s $10 billion to $28.7 billion, creating what’s been called a Deportation-Industrial Complex. The worst is yet to come.
Myself and a few others have organized a weekly protest against ICE raids every Tuesday from 1PM-3PM. We protest on the corner of Main and Moody St. Waltham (Waltham Common).
We welcome you to join us .
I support ICE removing illegals from our country. I highly doubt ICE did not identify themselfs when placing him in their custody. I am glad we are slowly starting to loosen the burdon on our health care system and starting to look out for Americans in America. They can walk miles and miles though uncharted teritorys to get to this country they knew they were coming here illegal.
The ultimate way to support Edvin and his family is to prevent Edvin from being deported and to return him to his family. What are our state senators and representatives doing about this situation? About racial profiling by ICE?
These ICE arrests without due process are mindboggling. On what grounds is he no longer eligible for a permanent residency card? If he came as a kid and now has an active EAD until 2029 under DACA status, with no criminal record, I don’t understand the legal justification at all. Make it make sense!
Did ICE provide any justification for why they “have reason to believe” Alvarez is removable? E.g., overstayed visa, entry without inspection, denied asylum, revoked parole, etc.? What about his underlying status changed? I hope WT submits a FOIA request for access to the arrest warrant and continues to follow the story closely.
Thank you for this reporting, and please let us know if there are ways to support his legal fees. Everyone deserves due process and fair, competent representation.
This gofundme is made by his neice (Kathy) Tavera mentioned in the article. It will support legal fees and his family. https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-edvin-alvarez-home-to-his-family Please help share!
This is horrible, and underscores that these state-sanctioned kidnappings are *not* about getting criminals off of our streets but are rather about cruelty and destabilizing families and their communities. Are there any opportunities to provide support to the Alvarez family (a GoFundMe or similar)?
LUCE and Fuerza both provide material support to families and neighborhoods. Both have websites you can access. There is a regular vigil in Waltham at the edge of the common at the corner of Moody and Main, Tuesdays 1:00pm – 3:00pm, and one at the Burlington, MA ICE office at 1000 District Avenue, Wednesdays and Thursdays 11:00 – 1:00.
These aren’t arrests. They’re kidnappings committed without due process. ICE has become the great shame of this nation, and should be abolished. They’re not going after drug traffickers and gang members. They even admit to racial profiling. The prisons and treatment are inhumane. We are not safer due to ICE–they’ve even disappeared U.S. citizens. This business is shameful; we need an overhaul in our government to get back to, and move forward toward, a civilized society.
Is there any way to support him?
I’m not sure about supporting him specifically, but LUCE and Fuerza both provide material support to like individuals, families and neighborhoods. Both have websites you can access. There is also a regular vigil in Waltham at the edge of the common at the corner of Moody and Main, Tuesdays 1:00pm – 3:00pm, and one at the Burlington, MA ICE office at 1000 District Avenue, Wednesdays and Thursdays 11:00 – 1:00.
Yes! This GoFundMe is made by his neice (Kathy) Tavera mentioned in the article. It will support legal fees and his family. https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-edvin-alvarez-home-to-his-family Please help share!
Waltham Partnership for Youth is a local non-profit directly helping our local families with everything from the legal process to moral support.