ERO Boston arrests Guatemalan noncitizen convicted of molesting child following his sentence for unlawful reentry into US

HARTFORD, Conn. — Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston apprehended an unlawfully present 57-year-old Guatemalan noncitizen convicted of molesting a Missouri minor and unlawfully reentering the United States after removal. Officers from ERO Boston’s Hartford field office arrested Jorge Mario Ecute-Gonzalez Aug. 16 in Danbury.

“Jorge Mario Ecute-Gonzalez molested a minor in Missouri before attempting to unlawfully reenter the United States after removal,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons. “He poses a significant threat to children, which we cannot tolerate. ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from New England.”

Ecute lawfully entered the United States Oct. 25, 2001, in El Paso, Texas. However, he violated the terms of his lawful admission.

The 19th Judicial Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, convicted Ecute Sept. 6, 2017, of first-degree child molestation. The court sentenced him to five years in prison.

On July 20, 2018, ERO Kansas City in Missouri issued Ecute a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge.

A DOJ immigration judge in Kansas City ordered Ecute removed from the United States to Guatemala July 7, 2020.

ERO removed Ecute from the United States to Guatemala Oct. 26, 2020.

U.S. Border Patrol arrested Ecute Sept. 15, 2022, after he unlawfully reentered the United States near Eagle Pass, Texas. U.S. Border Patrol officials served Ecute a notice of intent/decision to reinstate prior removal order and transferred custody to the U.S. Marshals Service. Later that day, U.S. Border Patrol officials issued an immigration detainer against Ecute with the U.S. Marshals Service.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas convicted Ecute Oct. 31, 2023, of illegal reentry into the United States after removal and sentenced him to 27 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Officers from ERO Boston’s Hartford field office arrested Ecute Aug. 16, 2024, at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institute pursuant to the previously lodged immigration detainer. Ecute remains in ERO custody.

Detainers are critical public safety tools because they focus enforcement resources on removable noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity. Detainers increase the safety of all parties involved — ERO personnel, law enforcement officials, removable noncitizens and the public — by allowing an arrest to be made in a secure and controlled custodial setting as opposed to at-large within the community. Because detainers result in the direct transfer of a noncitizen from state or local custody to ERO custody, they also minimize the potential that an individual will reoffend. Additionally, detainers conserve scarce government resources by allowing ERO to take criminal noncitizens into custody directly rather than expending resources locating these individuals at-large.

ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. The Executive Office for Immigration Review is a separate entity from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 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.

Members of the public with information regarding noncitizen offenders can report crimes or suspicious activity by dialing the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.

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 Boston’s mission to increase public safety in our New England communities on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @EROBoston.