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ERO Washington, D.C. apprehends Guatemalan noncitizen convicted of crimes against Virginia minor
WASHINGTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington, D.C. arrested an undocumented noncitizen who was convicted of crimes against a Virginia minor. Deportation officers from ERO Washington D.C.’s Mobile Criminal Apprehension Team apprehended the 26-year-old Guatemalan national in Falls Church, Virginia, Nov. 6.
“This Guatemalan noncitizen posed a significant threat to the residents of our Virginia communities,” said ERO Washington, D.C. acting Assistant Field Office Director Brian Perrotte. “He victimized a local minor, so we did our part to enforce our nation’s immigration laws by apprehending the migrant. ERO Washington remains committed to apprehending criminals who are released back into the local population when a detainer is not honored. We will not allow such noncitizen offenders to roam free and victimize innocent youth.”
The Guatemalan noncitizen unlawfully entered the United States on an unknown date at an unknown location without being inspected or admitted by an immigration official.
U.S. Border Patrol agents in Edinburg, Texas, arrested the Guatemalan national in January 2013. The next day, officials issued the noncitizen a notice to appear before a Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge.
In February 2016, a DOJ immigration judge in Arlington, Virginia, administratively closed the Guatemalan national’s immigration case.
The Fairfax County Police Department in Fairfax, Virginia, arrested the undocumented noncitizen in June 2022 for carnal knowledge (without force) of a child 13-14 years old.
The Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Fairfax, Virginia, convicted the Guatemalan national in August 2022 of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and sentenced him to 12 months in prison.
ERO Washington, D.C. lodged an immigration detainer against the Guatemalan noncitizen in September 2022 with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in Fairfax, Virginia.
On or about Sept. 22, the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center released the Guatemalan noncitizen from custody and did not honor ERO Washington, D.C.’s immigration detainer. ERO Washington, D.C. was scheduled to take the noncitizen into custody but the detention center released him prior to ERO’s arrival.
Deportation officers from ERO Washington’s Mobile Criminal Apprehension Team arrested the Guatemalan national in Falls Church, Virginia, Nov. 6. He will remain in ERO custody pending his removal proceedings.
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.
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