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July 31, 2023New Orleans, LA, United StatesEnforcement and Removal

ERO New Orleans arrests previously removed Honduran

NEW ORLEANS — Deportation officers from Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) New Orleans apprehended a twice-removed noncitizen July 23. ERO New Orleans took the 38-year-old Honduran national into custody following his release from the St. Charles Parish Correctional Center, where he was serving a federal sentence for probation violation charges.

The noncitizen, who first entered the United States unlawfully in August 2003, has a 20-year criminal history that includes convictions for disturbing the peace, resisting arrest, illegal reentry and criminal trespassing. An immigration judge ordered him removed on Oct. 17, 2003. He was removed from the United States Nov. 13, 2003, and again on June 3, 2004. On an unknown date and at an unknown location, the noncitizen unlawfully reentered the United States.

ERO New Orleans placed a detainer on the noncitizen on Oct. 29, 2019, following his arrest by the New Orleans Police Department on home invasion charges. The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office declined to honor the detainer and released him back into the community.

On Feb. 3, 2020, ERO New Orleans located and arrested the noncitizen. ERO New Orleans pursued federal criminal prosecution for the offense of illegal reentry. The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana sentenced him to time served and 12 months of probation. ERO New Orleans placed an immigration detainer with the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), but it transferred the noncitizen to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office on a writ for pending local charges. For a second time, the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office declined to honor the ICE detainer and again released the noncitizen into the community.

On May 12, 2021, the New Orleans Police Department arrested the noncitizen on domestic abuse child endangerment charges, a violation of his probation conditions.

On May 15, 2023, the USMS apprehended the noncitizen based on his violation of probation conditions. The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana sentenced him to 200 days incarceration and 12 months of probation. On July 20, ERO New Orleans encountered the noncitizen in U.S. Marshals Service custody, placed a detainer through the Criminal Apprehension Program, and took him into custody on July 21.

“This individual has been committing crime and violating immigration laws for more than two decades. ERO New Orleans located and arrested this criminal noncitizen twice after he was released back into the community despite an immigration detainer being in place to prevent his release. Because of ERO New Orleans pursuit of federal criminal charges in 2020, the USMS was able to arrest him on a federal probation violation and turn him over to ERO New Orleans for removal from the United States. This case exemplifies the vital importance of all law enforcement agencies working together. ERO New Orleans and the USMS work cooperatively to identify and remove dangerous criminals from our communities,” said ERO New Orleans Field Office Director Mellissa Harper. “We will continue this cooperative relationship to make our communities safer.”

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 (EOIR) within the Department of Justice. EOIR 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 removable 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, ERO officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges.

In fiscal year 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens with criminal histories. This group had 198,498 associated charges and convictions, including 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.

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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