ICE deports MS-13 member wanted for murder

BOSTON – A Salvadoran man wanted for murder in his home country was deported Friday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). This removal demonstrates the collaborative efforts between the United States and El Salvador to locate Salvadoran criminal fugitives in the United States and return them to El Salvador to face justice.

Erick Anderson Mejia-Ayala, aka El Perverso and El Pollo, 21, departed the United States Friday onboard an ICE Air Operations Unit charter flight. Upon arrival in El Salvador, ERO officers turned him over to officials from the El Salvadoran Civilian National Police (PNC) to face aggravated homicide charges.

"Removing foreign fugitives from the United States is an ICE priority," said Sean Gallagher, field office director of ERO Boston. "The cooperation between the United States and El Salvadoran governments resulted in this foreign fugitive being safely returned to his home country where he can stand trial for his alleged crimes."

Mejia-Ayala was convicted on federal charges of improper entry into the United States by an alien in November 2012 and sentenced to time served. Upon his release from prison, he entered ERO custody and was released on bond in January 2013. In April 2013, ERO officers arrested him for violating the terms of his bond.

During removal proceedings, the PNC issued an Interpol Red Notice for his arrest. According to the Interpol Red Notice, on June 4, 2012 in San Sebastián, San Vicente, Mejia-Ayala and three other MS-13 members allegedly used a machete to decapitate and dismember the body of a rival gang member.

Mejia-Ayala deportation is another example of expanded bi-national cooperation to identify, arrest and repatriate Salvadoran criminal suspects who have fled to the United States to avoid prosecution. ICE officers work closely with the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC), the Salvadoran National Interpol Office and Salvadoran immigration as part of this effort.

In the first nine months of fiscal year 2013, the PNC executed more than 155 criminal arrest warrants with fugitives being returned to El Salvador aboard ICE removal flights. Many of those arrests involved homicide-related charges or other violent crimes.

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 647 foreign fugitives from the United States who were sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations Office of International Affairs, foreign consular offices in the United States and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the country.

Updated on Sept. 30, 2013.