ERO Baltimore arrests Eritrean national convicted of sex crimes against Maryland minor

BALTIMORE — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore apprehended an undocumented noncitizen from Eritrea in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 14. The noncitizen has convictions from 2017 for sex crimes against a Maryland minor. Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehension Program arrested the 53-year-old, who has been present in the United States for more than 25 years and was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor, third-degree sex offense and incest in Montgomery County.

The Eritrean citizen entered the United States lawfully at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in May 1996.

Officers from the Montgomery County Police Department arrested him in June 2015 and charged him with rape second degree, sex offense third degree and sex abuse of minor. In January 2017, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County in Upper Marlboro convicted him of sexual abuse of a minor: house/family, sexual offense third degree and incest. The court acquitted him of three counts of sexual offense third degree.

He received a sentence of 25 years’ incarceration, with all but 12 suspended for sexual abuse of a minor; house/family. He received a concurrent five-year sentence for incest with all five years suspended, a 10-year sentence for sex offense third degree with all 10 years suspended and a four-year period of supervised probation upon his release.

ERO Baltimore encountered the Eritrean citizen in January 2017 while he was serving his sentence at Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown. ERO Baltimore lodged an immigration detainer against him at that time.

While he was incarcerated in the custody of Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown, an immigration judge with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) ordered him removed to Eritrea in September 2019. The noncitizen was released from prison to ERO custody for removal, but could not be immediately removed due to a medical issue. He was released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) custody on an order of supervision for approximately eight months so he could receive medical clearance for removal.

Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore apprehended him at his residence in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 14. He will remain in ICE custody pending his repatriation to Eritrea.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations 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 is a separate entity from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and 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. Once a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or other lawful means, ICE officers may carry out the removal.

As one of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s three operational directorates, Enforcement and Removal Operations 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.