ICE removes convicted murderer, public safety threat, from Washington

SEATTLE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers removed a convicted murderer and public safety threat to Mexico, Tuesday.

Gomes Muriel Baez-Salazar, 52, is a citizen of Mexico who was in the United States illegally. On Nov. 29, 1996, Baez-Salazar was convicted for murder in Canyon County, Idaho, and sentenced to 25 years.

Baez-Salazar has been removed from the United States on two previous occasions and has a previous 1991, conviction for felony aggravated assault in Maricopa County, Arizona, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison. As a previously convicted aggravated felon he is an ICE enforcement priority.

ERO officers encountered Baez-Salazar in 2008, at the Canyon County Jail, pursuant to his murder arrest and lodged an immigration detainer.

ICE lodges immigration detainers on individuals like Baez-Salazar who have been arrested on local criminal charges, and who are suspected of being removable, so that ICE can take custody of that person when he or she is released from local custody.

On March 18, the Idaho Department of Corrections transferred Baez-Salazar to ICE ERO custody, and his previous order of removal was reinstated.

Baez-Salazar was removed from the United States via an ICE Air Operations charter flight and transferred to the custody of Mexican authorities.

ICE is implementing the interim civil immigration enforcement priorities directed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to focus its limited resources on threats to national security, border security and public safety. ICE continues to carry out its duty to enforce the laws of the United States in accordance with the Department’s national security and public safety mission.