Immigration agents in Boston have arrested a former professional baseball player wanted for alleged fentanyl trafficking, who is also an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic.

ICE Boston announced Monday that they have arrested Juan Miguel Castillo, whose violent criminal history includes multiple counts of assault and battery and numerous narcotics trafficking charges. Castillo, who is from the Dominican Republic, was taken into custody on Thursday.

“On Jan. 15, Officers with ICE Boston arrested Juan Miguel Castillo, a criminal alien from Dominican Republic. Castillo’s criminal history includes arrests for fentanyl trafficking, trafficking in a controlled substance 10 grams or more, and two counts of assault and battery,” ICE Boston posted to X on Monday. “This former minor league baseball prospect just struck out! And ERO Boston is swinging for the fences and removing the worst of the worst!”

According to his player profile, the right-handed first baseman and catcher spent much of his career in the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals farm systems.

From 2007-2009, Castillo played for the Dominican Summer League Cardinals — the rookie league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals — before making his way up to the Johnson City Cardinals in 2010. He was reassigned mid-season to the Batavia Muckdogs, another minor league team that at the time was also under the St. Louis Cardinals umbrella.

Castillo was called up to the A-level minor leagues late in the 2010 season to play for the Quad Cities River Bandits — the minor league affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Throughout the 2011 and 2012 seasons, he went back and forth between the River Bandits and the Cardinals’ A-level affiliate in the Palm Beach Cardinals, as well as the lower league Batavia Muckdogs.

Castillo would end up retiring from professional baseball in 2013 after several injuries set his career back, last playing for the Palm Beach Cardinals, dropping out mid-season. He finished his minor league career with a .283 batting average from 341 hits, 17 homeruns and 155 RBIs in 1,206 plate appearances.

Castillo’s current status, including where he is being held and if he will be deported, is unknown at this time.

The Herald has requested more information on Castillo, including his criminal history, from ICE ERO Boston.

DHS says these are the ‘worst of the worst’ arrested by ICE in Boston area

(Left to right, top to bottom): Emilio Pineda [El Salvador], Eduardo Ramirez [Guatemala], Mahmoud Shamseddine [Sierra Leone], Jorge Esteban Luebbert Acuna [Mexico], Eladio Santos Oritz [Dominican Republic], Luiz Soares De Lima [Brazil], Emilio Pineda [El Salvador]
DHS has released a list of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal immigrants arrested by ICE in Boston. (Photos courtesy Department of Homeland Security)