ERO Baltimore arrests Salvadoran MS-13 member convicted of accessory to murder in Maryland

BALTIMORE — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore apprehended a Salvadoran noncitizen who was convicted in 2023 of accessory to first-degree murder after the fact in Montgomery County. Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested the 30-year-old MS-13 gang member Jan. 29 near his residence in Silver Spring.

“This unlawfully present Salvadoran gang member’s presence in the United States represents a threat to the safety and security of our residents,” said ERO Baltimore Field Office Director Darius Reeves. “Not only is he a validated member of a notorious criminal enterprise, but he also aided other criminals in the commission of a murder. ERO Baltimore will continue to apprehend and remove such criminal elements from our Maryland communities.”

U.S. Border Patrol encountered the Salvadoran national in October 2006 near Falfurrias, Texas, as an unaccompanied noncitizen and served him a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge as a noncitizen present without admission or parole. Later that day, agents transferred him to the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s International Educational Services in Harlingen, TX.

In December 2006, the Office of Refugee Resettlement reunified him with his uncle in Washington, D.C.

An immigration judge in Baltimore ordered him removed to El Salvador in February 2007.

The Montgomery County Police Department arrested the gang member in January 2023 and charged him with the offense of accessory after the fact-murder first degree.

ERO Baltimore lodged an immigration detainer against the Salvadoran noncitizen in June 2023 with Montgomery County Circuit Court.

The Circuit Court of Montgomery County in Rockville convicted him of accessory after the fact-murder first degree in September 2023 and sentenced him to five years of imprisonment. The court suspended all but 18 months of his sentence.

The Montgomery County Circuit Court ignored ERO Baltimore’s immigration detainer and released the Salvadoran gang member.

Deportation officers with ERO Baltimore’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested him Jan. 29 near his residence in Silver Spring. He will remain in ICE custody pending his removal from the United States.

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.

Learn more about ERO Baltimore’s mission to increase public safety in your community on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EROBaltimore.

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