Dominican Republic man with violent criminal conviction released without ICE notification; arrested, placed in removal proceedings

PHILADELPHIA — A man from the Dominican Republic, who is a convicted violent criminal, was located and arrested by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the City of Philadelphia refused to honor an immigration detainer.

This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Philadelphia.

Maury Croussett-Garcia, 22, was convicted in July 2013 of felony aggravated assault in Pennsylvania in 2010. According to the criminal complaint, he struck a man in the head with a bottle causing bleeding to the brain. Croussett-Garcia was sentenced to 11 years, six months to 23 months in prison.

Croussett-Garcia was imprisoned at the Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia. Soon afterward, ERO placed an immigration detainer on him. A detainer is a request to a law enforcement agency that ICE be notified before an alien who is being held on criminal charges or serving a prison sentence is released from agency's custody.

Instead, the City of Philadelphia released Croussett-Garcia July 7 without notifying ICE in accordance with an executive order of the mayor.

"In spite of challenges posed by the executive order," said Thomas Decker, field office director for ERO Philadelphia, "ICE will continue working diligently to keep our communities safe and removing threats to public safety from the United States. Honoring ICE detainers is a public safety issue. Fortunately, we were able to locate and arrest this criminal alien before he could commit another violent crime."

ERO agents arrested Croussett-Garcia without incident Thursday at his residence in Philadelphia. He has been placed in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.