ICE Deports Guatemalan Murder Suspect Living in Sanctuary City

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers deported a Guatemalan man wanted in his home country for murder.

Officers from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division returned Rigoberto Gonzalez-Aragon, 66, to Guatemalan law enforcement officials on October 25 after learning the man has an active warrant for an alleged homicide. The man chose to hide in the sanctuary city of New York after illegally entering the U.S. at an unknown time and place. ERO officers arrested Gonzalez-Aragon after receiving a tip that he resided in the New York metropolitan area, according to information obtained by Breitbart Texas from ICE officials.

Deportation officers arrested the alleged criminal alien on June 8 in Spring Valley, New York, on charges of immigration violations. An immigration judge ordered Gonzalez-Aragon removed to Guatemala in September.

ERO officers and the ICE Air Operations flight crew returned the illegal alien to law enforcement officials in Guatemala City, Guatemala on October 25. They deportation officers turned him over to local law enforcement authorities, officials stated.

ERO officers have deported more than 1,700 fugitive aliens from the United States since October 1, 2009. Those fugitives had warrants for violent felonies including kidnapping, rape, and murder, according to ICE records. Records for the last full fiscal year, FY 2016, indicate that ERO officers deported 240,255 illegal aliens. Officials noted that 92 percent of those removed had criminal convictions.

Last week, ERO officers arrested three criminal aliens in the sanctuary city of New York after local law enforcement officials ignored immigration detainers, Breitbart Texas reported.  Those included a twice-deported felon, Pablo Garcia-Taveras, from the Dominican Republic. Garcia-Taveras has multiple felony drug convictions, including one for felony criminal possession of a controlled substance and felony attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was deported to the Dominican Republic in 2004 and 2008.

ICE also arrested two criminal aliens from Ecuador and Mexico who had previously been jailed and released by sanctuary city officials.

The field director for ERO in New York released a statement that said, “ICE is committed to promoting public safety, even when facing significant obstacles created by local elected officials’ obstructionist policies.” He added, “Every day, our officers put their lives on the line to arrest criminal aliens who could have easily been transferred to ICE custody within the confines of a secure jail environment.”