ICE deports Mexican fugitive wanted for murder

CHICAGO — A fugitive, who was wanted for allegedly killing a woman who refused to dance with him at a party, was deported Tuesday to Mexico where he faces homicide charges. This removal was conducted by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Ivan Hernandez-Barroso, 28, was flown from Chicago to Harlingen, Texas, on a government charter flight on Sept. 6. ICE ERO officers escorted Hernandez-Barroso across the border into Matamoros, Mexico, and turned him over to the custody of Mexican authorities to face these charges.

“Ivan Hernandez-Barroso is a violent criminal who tried to escape justice in Mexico by hiding in the United States,” said Ricardo Wong, field office director for ICE ERO in Chicago. “We will not tolerate international fugitives who think they can outrun the law by seeking safe haven in this country.”

Hernandez-Barroso is wanted in Mexico for allegedly killing a woman who refused to dance with him at a party in Cuerámaro in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. According to the arrest warrant issued in Irapuato, Mexico, Hernandez-Barroso attended a party on March 12, 2005 where several women at the party allegedly refused to dance with him. As the women left the party in a pick-up truck, Hernandez-Barroso allegedly fired shots at the truck, hitting one of them in the head. The victim later died from a gunshot wound at a local clinic.

Hernandez-Barroso had been previously deported after serving a three -year sentence for a 2003 conviction in California for assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon.

On March 11, 2008, Hernandez-Barroso was arrested by the South Bend (Ind.) Police Department for drunken driving and transferred to ICE custody after a criminal records check revealed his prior removal. Re-entering the United States after being formally deported is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. He was prosecuted in the Northern District of Indiana for re-entry after deportation, convicted, and sentenced to 46 months in prison. While Hernandez-Barroso was serving his sentence, ICE officials learned that he was wanted in Mexico on homicide charges. He was released from the Oxford Federal Correctional Institute in Wisconsin on Aug. 16 and turned over to ICE for deportation.