ERO Houston repatriates accused child rapist to Mexico who has illegally entered US 4 times

HOUSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston, with assistance from ERO Mexico and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement Task Force, repatriated Nestor Flores Encarnacion, a 58-year-old undocumented alien, to his home country of Mexico Jan. 23. Flores has illegally entered the U.S. four times and is wanted in Veracruz, Mexico, for rape of a child.

ICE deportation officers transported Flores from the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, to the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge in Laredo, Texas, and he was transferred into the custody of Mexican authorities.

“This foreign fugitive brazenly entered the U.S. in violation of our nation’s laws on four separate occasions to evade prosecution in Mexico for allegedly raping a child,” said ERO Houston Field Office Director Bret A. Bradford. “Dangerous foreign fugitives and criminal aliens who are accused of, or have committed, heinous crimes like sexually assaulting a child will find no safe haven in Southeast Texas. Our immigration officers work tirelessly to successfully locate and apprehend undocumented aliens in the Houston area who threaten public safety, national security, and border security, and will not rest until they’re repatriated to their country of origin and no longer a threat to the community.”

Flores illegally entered the U.S. Feb. 16, 2002, near Roma, Texas. The U.S. Border Patrol apprehended Flores and voluntarily returned him to Mexico Feb. 17, 2002. Flores illegally re-entered the U.S. on Feb. 20, 2002, and Feb. 22, 2002. On both occasions, he was arrested by Border Patrol officers and voluntarily returned to Mexico the same day.

Flores illegally entered the U.S. for a fourth time on an unknown date and at an unknown location. ERO Houston deportation officers successfully apprehended Flores Aug. 23, 2024, at a residence in Houston after receiving an alert indicating that he was potentially illegally residing in the Houston area and wanted in Mexico for rape of a child. Flores was placed into immigration proceedings and granted a voluntary departure under safeguards by an immigration judge with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review Dec. 19, 2024.

The Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement 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 U.S. illegally who were subject to foreign arrest warrants. The SAFE Program operates under the respective host nation’s Assistant Attaché for Removal, 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 assistant attaché ensures that each task force member complies with SAFE policies and standards consistent with the program’s standard operating procedures. Once established, the assistant attaché led SAFE task force generates new leads and vets existing SAFE fugitive referrals for ERO action.

ERO is one of ICE’s three operational directorates and 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.

Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to contact ICE by calling the ICE Tip Line at 1 (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 ERO Houston carries out its immigration enforcement mission in Southeast Texas follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EROHouston.