ICE Houston deports Mexican man wanted for homicide
Has 4 felony convictions for illegally re-entering the US after being deported
HOUSTON — A five-time deported Mexican man wanted for homicide in his home country was deported again Monday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), and turned over to Mexican authorities.
Jose Manuel Sustaita-Velez, aka El Pelon, 33, was escorted to the Juarez Lincoln Port in Laredo, Texas, and turned over to Mexico’s Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) July 17.
“Identifying and removing foreign fugitives from the United States is an ICE priority,” said Bret Bradford, acting field office director of ERO Houston. “The cooperation between the United States and Mexican governments resulted in this foreign fugitive being safely returned to his home country where he will face justice.”
Sustaita-Velez was transferred into ICE custody from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons July 7. While incarcerated, he was identified as a homicide suspect in Mexico. The Mexican arrest warrant alleges that Sustaita-Velez murdered an individual outside of a school in San Luis Potosi.
Sustaita-Velez was previously deported from the United States on five occasions: March, May and November 2016; and January and April 2017. He was federally convicted of illegally re-entering the U.S. four times.
Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 1,700 foreign fugitives from the United States who were sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. In fiscal year 2016, ICE conducted 240,255 removals nationwide. Ninety-two percent of individuals removed from the interior of the United States had previously been convicted of a criminal offense.
Updated: