Homeland Security Officers and federal agents raided the office of an immigration attorney focused on “crimmigration” on Thursday, just days after President Donald Trump took office and began cracking down on illegal immigration.
Federal agents were seen carrying evidence from Joseph Molina Flynn’s law offices in the building on Dorrance Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island – a sanctuary city.
Videos posted online showed officers taking boxes of files and loading them into the scores of black SUVs and police vehicles parked outside.
An FBI spokesperson would only Attach to the Providence Journal that the agency was conducting “court-authorized activities” in the building.
Only two people with knowledge of the research told WPRI That federal agents were investigating Flynn over allegations that he defrauded his clients seeking representation on immigration-related matters.
They said the raid was not related to Trump’s crackdown on sanctuary cities like Providence. But the federal action came as Trump began his mass deportation program, driving hundreds of illegal immigrants out of the country.
Flynn — a native of Colombia who has boasted of his expertise in a field he called “crash migration” — had not been charged with wrongdoing as of Thursday evening.
But shortly after news of the raid broke, the mayor of the nearby City of Central Falls announced that Flynn had resigned from his role as municipal judge there.
Homeland Security Officers and federal agents raided the Office of Immigration Attorney Joseph Molina Flynn on Thursday

Video posted online showed law enforcement officers entering his office on Dorrance Street

Dozens of black SUVs and police vehicles were seen parked outside the building
“I was deeply concerned to see reports of an FBI search of Joseph Molina Flynn’s law office,” Mayor Maria Rivera said in a statement.
“As the Central Falls community knows, transparency and accountability are priorities of mine,” she continued. “In an effort to maintain the integrity and focus of the Municipal Court, Judge Molina Flynn has officially resigned from his position.”
Municipal Court Associate Judge Robert McConnell will fill in temporarily until Flynn’s position is filled.
Flynn was the first openly gay person and formerly undocumented migrant to serve on the bench in Central Falls in 2021.
He had come to the United States from Colombia when he was just nine years old, following the arrival of his relatives.
The judge was on a visitor visa, which was too long, and lived undocumented for 15 years before obtaining his lawful permanent resident status, Fox News reports.
He had previously spoken about how he was excited to arrive in the United States and felt an “overwhelming sense of peace” after leaving a homeland plagued by violence.
When he started school, Flynn said he couldn’t say much beyond “what?” causing all the other kids in his class to burst out laughing.
‘I became determined that they would stop laughing and I would learn to speak English.’

Homeland Security and FBI agents were seen carrying files as they left
Flynn went on to graduate Summa Cum Laude from Johnson & Wales University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
He obtained a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School and founded Molina Flynn Law Offices in 2015 as a solo practice, focusing on immigration, family and criminal matters.
Flynn was also an adjunct professor at Roger Williams University Law School, where he taught on the intersectionality between crime and immigration – what he called “crimmigration.”
The raid came as officials in Providence sought to delay passage of an ordinance that would codify protections for undocumented immigrants, According to the public’s radio.
Among the changes the city would implement were changes that would prohibit local law enforcement from “proactively” providing federal law enforcement agents with information that could lead to the arrest of anyone in the country without documentation when agents do not provide court bond.
Police would still be able to provide information about illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, but the amended language would prohibit people who have schools, places of worship, health facilities and courts from allowing immigration officials onto their property without a court order.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee also said the state would not prosecute immigrants who lack documentation unless they have also committed a crime.

The raid came just days after President Donald Trump took office and directed federal prosecutors to investigate any state or city officials who oppose immigration enforcement efforts

More than 1,300 migrants have been arrested in the early days of his second term
But after Trump took office Monday, he sent federal prosecutors to investigate any state or city officials who oppose immigration enforcement efforts.
The guidance states that “federal law prohibits state and local actors from resisting, impeding, impeding, or otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands and requests.”
It suggests that anyone who disobeys the law could face criminal charges.
A sweep of sanctuary cities on Tuesday led to the arrest of more than 300 illegal migrants, with immigration officials arresting more than 1,300 migrants in the early days of his presidency.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on x They also filed another 373 deportation detainers — requests for local law enforcement to hold arrested individuals until ice can pick them up — as Trump took back power.
Of the 1,300 migrants arrested so far, ‘more than 1,000 of them were criminals’, border Czar Tom Homan told Newsnation on Thursday evening.
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