ERO San Francisco arrests foreign fugitive wanted for kidnapping

SAN FRANCISCO — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested a Romanian national April 5 wanted in their home country for kidnapping.

“Our officers are gratified to ensure fugitives are removed from our community to keep the public safe,” said ERO San Francisco Field Office Director Moises Becerra.

ERO San Francisco officers discovered the 25-year-old Romanian national living in Fresno and made the arrest. The individual was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) July 17, 2012, in Calexico, and an immigration judge in Los Angeles ordered them removed to Romania Nov. 28, 2012. They self-departed the United States on an unknown date and from an unknown place.

The foreign national was arrested again by CBP in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas May 18, 2021. They were issued a notice to appear and subsequently released on an order of recognizance. They were discovered in Fresno, subsequently arrested, and will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

As part of its mission to identify and arrest removable noncitizens, ERO lodges immigration detainers against noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity and taken into custody by state or local law enforcement. An immigration detainer is a request from ICE to state or local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE as early as possible before a removable noncitizen is released from their custody. Detainers request that state or local law enforcement agencies maintain custody of the noncitizen for a period not to exceed 48 hours beyond the time the individual would otherwise be released, allowing ERO to assume custody for removal purposes in accordance with federal law.

Detainers are critical public safety tools because they focus enforcement resources on removable noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity. Detainers increase the safety of all parties involved — ERO personnel, law enforcement officials, removable noncitizens and the public — by allowing an arrest to be made in a secure and controlled custodial setting as opposed to at-large within the community. Because detainers result in the direct transfer of a noncitizen from state or local custody to ERO custody, they also minimize the potential that an individual will reoffend. Additionally, detainers conserve scarce government resources by allowing ERO to take criminal noncitizens into custody directly rather than expending resources locating these individuals at-large.

In fiscal year 2023, ERO arrested 73,822 noncitizens with criminal histories; this group had 290,178 associated charges and convictions with an average of four per individual. These included 33,209 assaults; 4,390 sex and sexual assaults; 7,520 weapons offenses; 1,713 charges or convictions for homicide; and 1,655 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.

Members of the public can report crimes and suspicious activity by dialing 866-347-2423 or completing ICE’s online tip form.

Learn more about ERO San Francisco City’s mission to preserve public safety on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @EROSanFrancisco.