ERO Baltimore arrests undocumented noncitizen previously removed to Mexico following conviction for death of US Marine

BALTIMORE — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore apprehended an undocumented noncitizen who was previously removed from the United States following his conviction for fleeing the scene of a motor vehicle accident that caused a U.S. Marine’s death. Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested the 35-year-old Mexican national Dec. 6 at his residence in Hyattsville.

“This Mexican national has demonstrated a degree of negligence that sadly resulted in the death of a U.S. Marine,” said ERO Baltimore acting Field Office Director Darius Reeves. “After being removed from the United States twice, this noncitizen returned to the same area where he committed his crimes. ERO Baltimore will not allow the residents of our Maryland communities to endure such threats. We will continue to aggressively pursue noncitizens who bring harm to our neighborhoods.”

The noncitizen unlawfully entered the United States on an unknown date at an unknown location without being inspected or admitted by an immigration official.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department arrested the Mexican national in August 2013 and charged him with domestic violence and assault in the second degree. However, the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County dismissed the charges.

The District Court for Anne Arundel County-Family in Annapolis issued a petition-protection order against the Mexican citizen in November 2014.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department arrested him in September 2015 and charged him with violating the protection order. The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County convicted him in July 2016 and sentenced him to one year of supervised probation.

ERO Baltimore arrested the noncitizen in August 2016 and served him with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge as a noncitizen present without admission or parole. The next month, the DOJ immigration judge granted the Mexican national bond in the amount of $10,000.00. He posted bond and ERO Baltimore released him from custody that day.

The Anne Arundel County Police Department arrested him again in February 2017 and charged him with negligence manslaughter-auto. The next day, the Pacific Enforcement Response Center lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Anne Arundel County Detention Center. The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County convicted the noncitizen in August 2017 for related charges and sentenced him to 10 years of confinement with four years suspended and five years of probation.

ERO Baltimore encountered the Mexican national in September 2017 while he was in the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown. ERO Baltimore placed him into the Institutional Hearing and Removal Program. Later that month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor in Baltimore issued the noncitizen additional charges of inadmissibility/deportability.

In January 2018, a DOJ immigration judge in Baltimore ordered the Mexican national removed from the United States.

The Anne Arundel County Detention Center transferred custody of the noncitizen to ERO Baltimore in May 2020. ERO Baltimore removed the noncitizen from the United States to Mexico the next month.

The Mexican national unlawfully reentered the United States on an unknown date at an unknown location without being inspected or admitted by an immigration official.

In September 2021, U.S. Border Patrol encountered him near Rio Grande City, Texas, and served him a notice of intent/decision to reinstate prior order of removal. On the same date, U.S. Border Patrol transferred custody of the Mexican national to the U.S. Marshals Service for prosecution.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville, Texas, convicted the noncitizen in June 2022 of unlawful reentry of removed aliens and sentenced him to 15 months in prison.

In October 2022, the U.S. Marshals Service transferred custody of the noncitizen to ERO Houston, which again removed him from the United States to Mexico later that month.

The noncitizen again unlawfully reentered the United States on an unknown date at an unknown location without being inspected or admitted by an immigration official.

ERO Baltimore received an HSI Tip Line lead that the noncitizen had illegally reentered the United States in October 2023. Two weeks later, ERO Baltimore filed a criminal complaint his reentry after a felony conviction with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore.

In December, a U.S. magistrate judge signed an arrest warrant against him.

Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested the Mexican national Dec. 6 at his residence and served him with a notice of intent/decision to reinstate a prior removal order. ERO Baltimore transferred custody of the noncitizen to the U.S. Marshals Service, where he will remain pending initial his appearance before a DOJ immigration judge.

ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is a separate entity from DHS and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal.

As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.gov)