ERO removes former Colombian intelligence agent wanted for homicide
NEW ORLEANS — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) New Orleans, in coordination with the ERO Removal Division, successfully removed a noncitizen to his home country of Colombia Sept. 1 where he is wanted for crimes related to homicide.
Javier Alfredo Valle Anaya, 54, is a Colombian citizen who obtained status in the U.S. through fraudulent means. Valle Anaya is a former agent of Colombia’s now disbanded intelligence agency, the Administrative Security Department or Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (DAS). He was arrested on immigration violations Oct. 5, 2018, by special agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York.
On Dec. 6, 2019, an immigration judge (IJ) found that Valle Anaya failed to disclose his role in the Sept. 17, 2004, shooting of Professor Alfredo Correa de Andreis, a sociologist, and his bodyguard, Edilberto Ochoa Martinez, while Valle Anaya was in the DAS. As a result, the IJ ordered Valle Anaya removed for willfully misrepresenting a material fact on his application to adjust status to a lawful permanent resident. Valle Anaya’s subsequent appeals of the IJ’s decision were denied by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, paving the way for his removal.
This case was investigated by HSI New York’s Document and Benefit Task Force (DBFTF) and ICE’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC). The HSI attaché in Bogotá, Colombia, assisted in the investigation. ICE’s New York Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) litigated the case.
“The removal of Valle Anaya, a former Colombian official who abused his position by participating in these human rights abuses, is the culmination of years of dedicated effort across many ICE entities and is yet another example of the important work that ICE does every day,” said Mellissa Harper, acting field office director of the ERO New Orleans field office.
The HRVWCC is the only U.S. government entity focused completely on investigating global atrocities and the perpetrators of human rights violations and war crimes. Initiated by HSI in 2008, the HRVWCC leverages the knowledge and expertise of a select group of special agents, attorneys, intelligence analysts, criminal research specialists and historians who are charged with preventing the U.S. from becoming a safe haven for individuals who engage in the commission of war crimes, genocide, torture, and other forms of serious human rights abuses from conflicts around the globe.
Since 2003, ICE has arrested more than 480 individuals for human rights-related violations of the law under various criminal and/or immigration statutes. During that same period, ICE obtained deportation orders against and physically removed 1,100 known or suspected human rights violators from the United States. Additionally, ICE has facilitated the departure of an additional 186 such individuals from the United States.
Currently, HSI has more than 160 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,700 leads and removal cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries. Since 2003, the HRVWCC has issued more than 78,000 lookouts and stopped over 350 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S.
Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to call the HSI tip line at: 1-866-DHS-2423 (1-866-347-2423) – callers can remain anonymous.
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