Mary De Anda-Ybarra selected to lead Enforcement and Removal Operations in El Paso, Texas
EL PASO, Texas — Mary De Anda-Ybarra, a native El Pasoan with more than 27 years of federal law enforcement experience, is the new field office director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in El Paso, Texas.
For seven months, De Anda-Ybarra served as acting field office director in El Paso. She replaces Juan L. Acosta, who was promoted to assistant director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ERO in Washington, D.C. De Anda-Ybarra’s selection became official in February.
The ERO El Paso area of responsibility covers 51 counties in West Texas and the State of New Mexico and includes five suboffices and 4 detention facilities.
Prior to her selection, De Anda-Ybarra served as acting field office director for the ERO Dallas field office from October 2021 to July 2022. The field office covered enforcement operations in 128 counties in North Texas and the State of Oklahoma. De Anda-Ybarra’s leadership responsibilities included the management of five detention facilities as well as oversight of enforcement efforts, targeting and removing criminal noncitizens from the United States.
“With her lengthy service record and extensive knowledge of ICE and ERO operations, policy, and programs, I am confident Ms. De Anda-Ybarra will make lasting contributions to the ICE mission,” said ICE’s Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Tae D. Johnson.
De Anda-Ybarra began her career with the federal government in 1996 as an immigration inspector in El Paso, Texas, with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Since then, she rose through the ranks in numerous leadership positions. In 2007, she transferred to ICE’s Detention and Removal Operations in El Paso, Texas, as an immigration enforcement agent. In 2009, she was promoted to deportation officer and worked at the El Paso Processing Center’s Removals Section and the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico.
In 2015, De Anda-Ybarra was promoted to supervisory detention and deportation officer at the Otero County Processing Center, where she oversaw the Interior Repatriation Initiative. In that role, she also assisted as chief of staff and acting assistant field office director for the Albuquerque, New Mexico, suboffice and the Otero detention facility.
De Anda-Ybarra was selected as assistant field office director at the El Paso Processing Center on June 12, 2016. In that position, she oversaw detention, detained and non-detained dockets, family unit cases, juvenile cases, travel, air operations, the West Texas Detention Facility, and DHS initiatives such as the Migrant Protection Protocol. In that role, she also served as the acting deputy field office director and acting officer in charge. In March 2020, De Anda-Ybarra transferred to the ERO Dallas field office as its deputy field office director, and in 2021, she served as the acting field office director for both the ERO Dallas and the ERO Salt Lake City offices.
De Anda-Ybarra is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.
As one of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) three operational directorates, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.
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