ERO Washington, D.C. removes Peruvian noncitizen convicted of forced disappearance

WASHINGTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington, D.C. removed a 62-year-old Peruvian national wanted in his home country following a conviction of forced disappearance. Deportation officers removed Raul Herbert Manyari-Castellares from the United States to Peru Dec. 8. Peruvian authorities took custody of him upon his arrival.

Manyari-Castellares faces a 15-year prison sentence upon his return to Peru.

“Raul Herbert Manyari-Castellares committed a heinous crime in his home country and attempted to hide out in the United States,” said ERO Washington, D.C. Assistant Field Office Director Daniel Nichols. “We will not allow such criminals to use our Washington, D.C. communities as a refuge from justice. ERO Washington, D.C. will continue to aggressively pursue unlawfully present noncitizens attempting to escape the justice system in their native lands.”

Manyari-Castellares originally entered the United States Oct. 1, 2022. U.S. Customs and Border Protection admitted him into the country at the Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia.

However, the National Superior Court of Specialized Criminal Justice in Lima, Peru, convicted Manyari-Castellares of forced disappearance on Oct. 10, 2022, and sentenced him to 15 years confinement. Later that day, the court issued an arrest warrant for Manyari-Castellares to serve his sentence for his conviction.

On Aug. 7, deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested Manyari-Castellares in Perry Hall, Maryland, and issued him a notice to appear before a Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge.

According to the International Red Cross, forced disappearance charges often imply murder whereby the victim has been abducted, may be illegally detained, and is often tortured during interrogation; the person is ultimately killed, and their body is disposed of secretly. The party committing the murder has plausible deniability as there is no evidence of the victim's death.

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 the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (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)