ERO New Orleans locates, arrests aggravated felon in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) New Orleans apprehended a previously removed Mexican noncitizen who is an aggravated felon Jan. 30. Fugitive operations officers from ERO New Orleans operating out of Memphis, Tennessee, arrested the 36-year-old noncitizen with assistance from the U.S. Marshals Service. During the arrest, ERO officers also located an assault rifle, a pistol, and large amounts of ammunition for both weapons.

In August 2003, U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested the Mexican noncitizen at the Brownsville, Texas, Port of Entry and granted him a voluntary return to Mexico.

In January 2009, the FBI in Memphis arrested the noncitizen and charged him with possession of cocaine and conspiracy. He was convicted in 2009 in the Western District of Tennessee for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and criminal forfeiture. He was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.

On August 2010, ERO Dallas arrested the noncitizen in Big Spring, Texas, following his release from the Bureau of Prisons and issued him a notice of intent to issue a final administrative removal order. The Mexican national was removed from the United States in October 2010.

ERO Fugitive Operations discovered the noncitizen living in Tennessee. An ERO officer secured a criminal indictment for the Mexican noncitizen in 2020 in the Western District of Tennessee for illegal reentry and unlawful possession of a firearm. The ERO officer who secured the 2020 indictment located the noncitizen, who was hiding out in the greater Memphis area, on Jan. 30.

ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is a separate entity from the 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 subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal.

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 New Orleans’s mission to increase public safety in your community on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ERONewOrleans.