ERO Baltimore arrests French noncitizen convicted of sexually abusing Maryland minor
BALTIMORE — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore apprehended a 26-year-old undocumented noncitizen Nov. 20 who was convicted of sexually abusing a minor in Maryland. Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehensions Program arrested the French national and felon in Westover.
“This French national was a threat to the people of Maryland,” said ERO Baltimore acting Field Office Director Darius Reeves. “He not only violated our immigration laws; he also victimized a Maryland minor. ERO Baltimore will continue to aggressively pursue, apprehend and remove undocumented noncitizens who cause harm to the residents of our communities.”
The French national entered the United States in July 2014 as a visa waiver visitor authorized to stay until October 2014. However, he failed to depart the United States, violating the terms of admission for the visa waiver program.
He departed the United States in August 2015.
The Montgomery County Police Department and Maryland State's Attorney’s Office issued an arrest warrant for the French national in January 2018 for sexually abusing a minor.
The French noncitizen applied for an F-1 student visa in July 2018. Later that month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied his application.
In August 2018, the Montgomery County Chief of Police applied for a law enforcement agency certification for significant public benefit parole for the noncitizen with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Parole and Law Enforcement Programs Unit. Later that month, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore approved the Public Benefit Parole Request.
In September 2018, the noncitizen entered the United States as a public interest parolee. The same day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Baltimore and Montgomery County Police arrested the French national.
The Circuit Court of Montgomery County convicted the French national of sexually abusing a minor — specifically, a charge of “sex abuse minor: house/family” — and sentenced him to 25 years of imprisonment.
ERO Baltimore encountered the French national May 8 at the Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover and issued an immigration detainer for him.
On Sept. 26, a Department of Justice immigration judge in Baltimore ordered the noncitizen removed to France.
Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehension Program arrested him Nov. 20 at the Eastern Correctional Institution and served him with a warrant of removal.
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 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.
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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