ICE deports suspect wanted in Mexico for murdering a 4-year-old boy

CHICAGO - A fugitive wanted in Mexico for beating a young boy to death with a hammer in 2001 was deported Thursday to Mexico where he faces aggravated homicide charges. The removal was conducted by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Juan Manuel Salazar-Ramos, 39, was flown from Chicago to Harlingen, Texas, on a government charter flight on April 14. He was escorted to the border and handed over to the custody of the Mexican Attorney General's Office to face these charges.

The Superior Court of Justice in Mexico City issued an arrest warrant in 2003 for Salazar-Ramos for allegedly killing a 4-year-old boy in Mexico City on June 19, 2001. According to court documents, Salazar-Ramos used a hammer to beat to death his girlfriend's son, Rafael Garduño-Contreras, in their Mexico City apartment.

"The deportation of Juan Manuel Salazar-Ramos is a textbook example of a unified approach to international law enforcement operations," said Ricardo Wong, field office director of ICE ERO in Chicago. "This man attempted to evade criminal prosecution in Mexico by hiding in the United States, which our government will not stand for."

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested Salazar-Ramos in May 2010 after receiving a referral from the FBI. At the time of his arrest, Salazar-Ramos was living in Palatine, Ill., under the alias Miguel Diaz-Perez. After verifying that Salazar-Ramos was living in the United States illegally, ICE agents took him into ICE custody and placed him into removal proceedings.

A federal immigration judge subsequently ordered Salazar-Ramos' deportation in November 2010. His request to appeal the deportation order was dismissed by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) on March 29, 2011.