ICE deports Mexican fugitive in Indiana wanted for aggravated homicide

INDIANAPOLIS — A Mexican national unlawfully in the Unites States, who is a convicted cocaine dealer, was deported Friday to Mexico where he faces charges of aggravated homicide for shooting a woman to death.

This deportation was conducted by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Chicago.

Efrain Rivera-Rico, 32, was deported via an ICE AIR Operations charter flight May 10 and turned over to the Mexican authorities at the Brownsville Port of Entry in Texas. The Attorney General for the Mexican State of Michoacán issued an arrest warrant for Rivera-Rico May 11, 2001, in connection with the March 2001 shooting death of a female passenger in a car he was driving.

According to the arrest warrant, on March 29, 2001, Rivera-Rico was driving a car with three passengers on the Patzcuaro-Tingambato Highway in the State of Michoacán. When a female passenger complained she was feeling ill, Rivera-Rico allegedly pulled off the road, took out a .38-caliber handgun, and shot Marce Judith Martinez-Camacho in the head. Rivera-Rico and another male passenger then allegedly removed the victim from the car, dragged her into a ditch, fired additional shots, and drove away leaving the body by the side of the highway.

Rivera-Rico entered the United States illegally at an unknown date and was residing in Seymour, Ind. On Oct. 5, 2009, Rivera-Rico was convicted of dealing cocaine in Jackson County, Indiana and sentenced to nine years in prison. ERO officers encountered Rivera-Riva at the Jackson County State Jail in February 2010 and placed a detainer on him to ensure that he would be turned over to ERO for deportation upon his release from prison.

Pursuant to the detainer, Rivera-Rico was released from Indiana Department of Corrections and turned over to ERO April 2. In March ICE was notified of the outstanding arrest warrant in Mexico by another federal law enforcement agency. As an illegal alien and aggravated felon, Rivera-Rico was ordered removed April 11.

"Rivera-Rico thought he could evade justice and a possible prison sentence in Mexico by hiding in Indiana," said Ricardo Wong, ERO Chicago field office director. "But the crimes he committed in Indiana for dealing drugs put him on our radar, and he now faces murder charges in Mexico. ICE officers help protect public safety by arresting and removing international fugitives who pose a threat to our communities."

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 566 foreign fugitives from the United States who were being sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with ICE's Office of International Affairs, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the country.