ICE, local partners arrest 6-time removed MS-13 gang member wanted for murder following manhunt near Colony Ridge

HOUSTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office arrested a six-time removed criminal alien and MS-13 gang member from El Salvador Feb. 24 just hours after he allegedly murdered a Houston-area man in the Colony Ridge sub-division in Plum Grove, Texas.

Luis Miguel Perez-Miranda, a 34-year-old Salvadoran national, was apprehended following a manhunt by authorities in Dayton, Texas, and was taken to the Liberty County Jail.

“Despite attempts by some to spread false information and rumors about the brave men and women who work for ICE, they continue to come in to work every day and put their own lives at risk to make our communities safer,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford. “Without their incredible sacrifice and commitment to execute their mission at the highest level, this dangerous MS-13 gang member who allegedly butchered an innocent man earlier in the day would still be at-large in the community posing a potential threat to every Houstonian he encountered.”

“The residents in Southeast Texas can rest easier knowing this dangerous transnational gang member has been removed from the community and is safely in custody,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Houston Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz. “Thanks to the close relationships we have with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, we were able to quickly apprehend him within a matter of hours before he could endanger anyone else in the area.”

Perez-Miranda has illegally entered the U.S. at least seven times and was expelled from the U.S. under Title 42 in August 2021, and removed to El Salvador in September 2009, August 2014, July 2016, March 2019, and March 2023. Perez-Miranda has also been convicted of drug trafficking, drug possession, and twice for illegally entry while he was illegally present in the U.S.

For more news and information on ICE’s efforts to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and combat transnational crime in Southeast Texas follow us on X at @EROHouston and @HSIHouston.