ERO Baltimore arrests Nigerian national convicted of sex crimes against minor

BALTIMORE — On Aug. 2, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore apprehended a Nigerian national who has been convicted of rape in the second degree and a third-degree sex offense against a Maryland minor. Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehension Program took the 37-year-old noncitizen into custody outside his residence in Lanham.

The Nigerian citizen lawfully entered the United States as a nonimmigrant on July 24, 2015, but later violated the terms of his admission.

The Prince George’s County Police Department arrested him Dec. 20, 2017, and charged him with first- and second-degree rape.

On Feb. 7, 2019, the same police department arrested and charged him with the crimes of sex offense third degree; assault second-degree; and sex offense fourth-degree/sex contact against the same minor.

The Circuit Court for Prince George’s County in Upper Marlboro convicted the Nigerian citizen of the crimes of rape second-degree and sex offense third-degree against a minor. He received a 20-year sentence (15 years suspended) with 5 years of supervised probation for rape and a sentence of 10 years of imprisonment (all 10 years suspended) with 5 years of supervised probation for the third-degree sex offense.

The Prince George’s County Police Department again arrested and charged him with the crimes of sex offense third degree; assault second degree; and sex offense fourth degree/sex contact against another Maryland female on Sept 25, 2021.

On March 25, 2022, the District Court for Prince George’s County in Upper Marlboro ordered the charges of sex offense third-degree; assault second-degree; and sex offense fourth degree/sex contact against the Nigerian national as “stet,” which is a Maryland criminal case status. The state's attorney initiates the stet, which the judge must approve. When a case is marked stet, it’s inactive and won’t be prosecuted if the defendant abides by the stet’s conditions.

ERO Baltimore arrested the noncitizen outside of his residence in Lanham on Aug. 2 and served him with paperwork to appear before an immigration judge. He will remain in ERO custody pending his removal from the United States.

Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review within the Department of Justice. The Executive Office of Immigration Review is a separate entity from the U.S. 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. Once a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or other lawful means, ICE officers may carry out the 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.