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December 12, 2023Hyattsville, MD, United StatesEnforcement and Removal, Organized Crime

ERO Baltimore apprehends Honduran gang member convicted of voluntary manslaughter

ERO Baltimore apprehends Honduran gang member convicted of voluntary manslaughter
Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested a Honduran noncitizen and member of MS-13 Dec. 12 in Hyattsville, Maryland, who was convicted of killing a Maryland resident in 2016.

BALTIMORE — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore arrested an undocumented noncitizen Dec. 12 who was convicted of killing a Maryland resident in 2016. Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Fugitive Operations Team apprehended the 26-year-old Honduran national and validated member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Sailors Locos Salvatrucha Westside Clique in Hyattsville.

“This unlawfully present noncitizen is not only a member of a violent street gang, but he has also proven to be a severe threat to the public by killing one of our residents,” said ERO Baltimore acting Field Office Director Darius Reeves. “Violent noncitizen criminals like this Honduran national need to be removed from this country. It is a shame when local law enforcement agencies refuse to honor ICE detainers. ERO Baltimore will not relent in our pursuit of justice for the people of our Maryland communities.”

The Honduran noncitizen unlawfully entered the United States on an unknown date at an unknown location without being inspected, admitted or paroled by an immigration official.

U.S. Border Patrol encountered the noncitizen as an unaccompanied minor child near the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, in April 2014. They served him with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge as a noncitizen present without admission or parole. Later that day, U.S. Border Patrol transferred custody of the Honduran national to ERO Harlingen, who then transferred him to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Lincolndale, New York.

Later that month, the Office of Refugee Resettlement transferred custody of the Honduran noncitizen to his father in Hyattsville.

In November 2015, the Prince George’s County Police Department arrested and charged the Honduran national with assault in the second degree.

A DOJ immigration judge in Baltimore administratively closed the noncitizen’s immigration proceedings in March 2016.

The Prince George’s County Police Department arrested him again in August 2016 and charged him with concealing a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest.

The District Court for Prince George’s County in Upper Marlboro convicted him of resisting arrest in September 2016 and sentenced him to 30 days of incarceration. The court dismissed his remaining charges.

The Prince George’s County Police Department arrested the unlawfully present noncitizen again in November 2016 and charged him with first-degree murder, second-degree assault, second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder in the second degree, assault in the first degree, conspiracy to commit assault in the first degree, conspiracy to commit assault in the second degree, having a dangerous weapon with the intent to injure, having a handgun on his person, reckless endangerment, conspiracy to commit reckless endangerment, and possession of firearm by a minor. The same day, ERO Baltimore lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Prince George’s County Detention Center in Upper Marlboro.

In November 2018, the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County in Upper Marlboro convicted him of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced him to 10 years of imprisonment. The court suspended all but 751 days of his sentence and dismissed the remaining charges.

The Prince George’s County Detention Center released the unlawfully present noncitizen from custody in January 2019 and refused to honor ERO Baltimore’s detainer.

Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore arrested the Honduran national Dec. 12 outside his residence in Hyattsville and served him with a notice of intent to issue a final administrative order of removal. He will remain in ERO custody pending his removal from the United States.

ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is a separate entity from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal.

As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, 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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