News Releases and Statements

Jose Refugio Gonzalez-Gaytan, 37, was turned over to Mexican authorities at the top of El Paso’s Stanton International Bridge. He is wanted for allegedly stabbing Luis Daniel Sanchez Morales, 22, multiple times causing his death in May 2014.

“These aliens were targeted because they meet the agency’s highest enforcement priorities,” said Tom Decker, ERO Philadelphia field office director. “By taking these individuals off our streets and removing them from the country, we are making our communities safer for everyone.”

All of those arrested by ICE during the enforcement action, which concluded Sept. 29, met at least one of the agency’s three enforcement priorities. Over one quarter had criminal records that included felony convictions for serious or violent offenses, such as murder, attempted murder, child sex crimes, sex offenses, weapons charges and drug violations.

Some illicit marijuana grow operations were located in multiple residences and outbuildings; many others were located on federal land, causing environmental damage that may take years to repair. In every case, these marijuana grow operations were illegal under federal law and unlicensed by state authorities under Colorado’s marijuana regulatory system.

Jose Alvarado is wanted in Coahuila, Mexico, in connection with the 2002 murder of Saul Chavez Rodriguez. The Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado (PJGE) in Mexico issued a warrant for his arrest March 10, 2015.

Cesar Amauri Cruz-Marin, 42, was previously removed from the United States in November 2009. According to Salvadoran authorities, after his return to El Salvador, Cruz shot three men in the head in December 2010 and then fled. He subsequently illegally reentered the United States at an unknown time and was arrested by a U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force Oct. 23, 2014, in Madison, Tennessee.

Oscar Avila-Osorio, 24, is wanted in his home country for raping a minor and was the subject of an Interpol notice.

Juan Figueroa-Martinez, 27, was flown to Guatemala Sept. 16 onboard a charter flight coordinated by ICE's Air Operations (IAO) Unit. Upon arrival, Figueroa-Martinez was turned over to officials Guatemalan authorities.

Lucian Serban, 41, arrived in Bucharest, Romania, Sept. 16 under ICE escort and was turned over to Romanian authorities.

Cesar Vega-Muñoz was turned over Sept. 14 to Mexican officials at the top of the Stanton International Bridge Port of Entry.

Carlos Valencia-Zepeda, 34, of Mexico, was sentenced Sept. 9 by U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 18 months in federal prison for illegally reentering the United States after having been deported, which is a felony. Valencia-Zepeda pleaded guilty to the charge July 7.

Tiburicio Juarez Chavez, 28, formerly of Encinitas, was transferred by San Diego-based officers from the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Special Response Team to the custody of representatives from Mexican Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR) and Mexican immigration officials at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Juarez is charged in an arrest warrant issued in June with an aggravated rape committed in Oaxaca, Mexico, in May 2013.

Seventy eight of the foreign nationals taken into custody by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers during the enforcement action, which concluded Thursday, had prior criminal convictions, with the exception of one, who’s being charged federally with reentry after deportation.

Javier Arnoldo Ceron Gomez, 21, was repatriated on board a charter flight coordinated by ERO’s Air Operations Unit. Upon arrival at the airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, ERO officers turned the suspect over to top-level Salvadoran judicial and immigration officials.

Kyuseop Maeng, 50, was transported from Los Angeles to South Korea on board a commercial aircraft escorted by officers from ICE ERO. Maeng is charged with fraud in a criminal warrant issued in January 2011 by Korean authorities. Specifically, the warrant alleges that, during a one-month period beginning in November 2010, Maeng embezzled the equivalent of $3.5 million from investors in his trading company before fleeing to the U.S.

Isaias Perez-Pineda, 43, was turned over to Mexican authorities at the top of El Paso’s Stanton International Bridge. Perez-Pineda is a suspect in the 1995 homicide of Juventino Rojas Sanchez, 33, in Mexico’s capital.

Ricardo Valentino Lee Mc Carthy, 43, was repatriated under ERO escort on board a commercial flight from McCarren International Airport. Upon arrival, ERO officers turned the suspect over to authorities from the Panamanian Judicial Police. Mc Carthy is wanted in Panama for a murder that occurred Aug. 27, 2002.

All 244 of the foreign nationals taken into custody by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers during the enforcement action, which concluded Thursday, had prior criminal convictions. The majority (56 percent) had criminal records that included felony convictions for serious or violent offenses, such as child sex crimes, weapons charges and drug violations. The remaining arrestees had past convictions for significant or multiple misdemeanors.

According to Salvadoran authorities Luis Antonio Garcia Garcia, 38, is a confirmed member of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. Among MS-13 members, Garcia goes by the moniker “El Shaggy”. He is wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide related to an incident on April 12, 2008 when Garcia allegedly shot a male victim multiple times, resulting in the victim’s death on the scene.

Victoriano Enrique Larios, 30, was flown to El Salvador Aug. 27 onboard a charter flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations (IAO) Unit. Upon arrival, Larios was turned over to officials from the El Salvador’s Policia Nacional Civil (PNC).

Marseno Augusto Martins, 51, and Evandro Sergio Pais-Franca, 57, were turned over to Brazilian law enforcement authorities upon their respective arrivals at Belo Horizonte Airport in Brazil on Aug. 17 and 18.

Diego Oswaldo Jauregui-Rosales, 31, was transferred by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office.

Katherine Giselle Ortiz Gutierrez, 18, was flown to El Salvador Aug. 21 onboard a charter flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations (IAO) Unit. Upon arrival, Ortiz Gutierrez was turned over to officials from the El Salvador’s Policia Nacional Civil (PNC).

All 61 individuals arrested have been convicted of crimes in the United States and fall within ICE enforcement priorities. Of those arrested, 21 have felony convictions and 14 have aggravated felony convictions.