ERO El Paso removes fugitives wanted in El Salvador for homicide, human trafficking
EL PASO, Texas — The Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) El Paso field office removed two undocumented noncitizen fugitives wanted in El Salvador, Jan. 6 – one is wanted for homicide and the other for human trafficking.
ERO El Salvador and its Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement task force assisted with the removal.
Benito Arevalo Gochez Ruballo, 47, and Erika Beatriz Rivera Crespin, 35, were removed to their home country via ICE Air Operations charter flight. Both were taken into custody by law enforcement officials shortly after the flight landed in El Salvador where they stand accused.
Gochez Ruballo faces charges in his home country for illicit groupings, proposition or conspiracy to an aggravated homicide, and homicide. Rivera Crespin is wanted for human trafficking.
“Dangerous criminals who attempt to evade justice in their home countries by seeking safe haven in the United States will not find it here,” said ERO El Paso Acting Field Office Director Mary De Anda. “ICE is committed to identifying, locating, arresting and ultimately removing foreign fugitives to keep our country and communities safe.”
ERO officers make enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis in responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement professionals and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland.
Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE). Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case. ICE officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges.
In fiscal year (FY) 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens with criminal histories; this group had 198,498 associated charges and convictions. These included 21,531 assault offenses; 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses; 5,554 weapons offenses; 1,501 homicide-related offenses; and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.
ERO, a directorate of ICE, upholds U.S. immigration law at, within, and beyond our borders. ERO operations target public safety threats, such as convicted criminal noncitizens and gang members, who have violated our nation's immigration laws, including those who illegally re-enter the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges. ERO deportation officers assigned to Interpol also assist in targeting foreign fugitives for crimes committed abroad at-large in the U.S. ERO manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including identification and arrest, detention, bond management, supervised release, transportation, and removal. Additionally, ERO repatriates noncitizens ordered removed from the U.S. to more than 170 countries worldwide.
Members of the public can report crimes or suspicious activity by calling 866-347-2423 or completing ICE’s online tip form.
Learn more about ERO’s mission to increase public safety in your community on Twitter @EROElPaso.
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