ERO Houston removes Mexican fugitive wanted for homicide
HOUSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston, with assistance from ERO Mexico and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force, removed Benito Granillo San Agustin, a 37-year-old unlawfully present Mexican national, from the U.S. on Oct. 30. Granillo is wanted in Mexico for homicide.
Deportation officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transported Granillo from the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe to the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge in Laredo. Upon arrival, he was transferred into the custody of Mexican law enforcement authorities.
“The successful apprehension and repatriation of this dangerous foreign fugitive is another example of the outstanding teamwork between ERO Houston and our law enforcement partners here in Southeast Texas and abroad,” said ERO Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford. “Working together, we were able to successfully locate and remove this fugitive from the community before he could present a threat to public safety and return him to Mexico so that he can be tried for his alleged crimes.”
Granillo illegally entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location. On Nov. 27, 2021, ERO Houston lodged an immigration detainer on Granillo with the League City Jail after he was arrested for driving without a driver’s license. On Nov. 29, 2021, the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office transferred Granillo into ERO Houston custody and he was detained at the Montgomery Processing Center pending disposition of his immigration proceedings.
An immigration judge with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review granted Granillo bond on Feb. 1, 2022, and he bonded out of ICE custody. On Dec. 21, 2022, an immigration judge granted Granillo voluntary departure from the United States in lieu of removal.
On Jan. 19, 2023, Granillo filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, which subsequently dismissed it on May 15. ERO Houston arrested Granillo on Oct. 17 during a vehicle stop near his residence in Houston. ICE deportation officers carried out his removal from the United States on Oct. 30.
Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to contact ICE by calling the ICE Tip Line at 866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICE’s online tip form.
For more news and information on how the ERO Houston field office carries out its immigration enforcement mission in Southeast Texas, follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EROHouston.
The SAFE Program is a fugitive enforcement and information sharing partnership that was created in 2012 to better use subject information derived from local in-country investigative resources and leads to locate, apprehend, detain and remove individuals residing in the United States illegally who were subject to foreign arrest warrants. The SAFE Program operates under the respective host nation’s AAR, which constructs a SAFE task force composed of relevant foreign law enforcement agencies, immigration authorities, attorneys general and national identification repositories — as well as other regional, national, state and local government agencies. The managing AAR ensures that each task force member complies with SAFE policies and standards consistent with the program’s standard operating procedures. Once established, the AAR-led SAFE task force generates new leads and vets existing SAFE fugitive referrals for ERO action.
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.
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