BOSTON--Lorraine Henderson, the Boston area port director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was arrested on Dec. 5 and charged with harboring illegal aliens.

According to an eight-page affidavit, Henderson employed a Brazilian housekeeper who was an illegal immigrant for several years, reported the Associated Press. Henderson was allegedly caught on tape telling the housekeeper "if you leave they won't let you back ... you can't leave, don't leave ... 'cause once you leave you will never be back," according to the affidavit.

If convicted, Henderson faces up to 10 years in prison.

Henderson has been the area port chief for the Department of Homeland Security since 2003 and is responsible for overseeing all of the international ports of entry in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

"For any member of Customs and Border Protection to allegedly compromise their authority, and the security of our international ports of entry -- violating the same immigration laws that they are charged with upholding -- is unconscionable," U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said in a statement to the Associated Press.