ERO Boston arrests Guatemalan national convicted of manslaughter in Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deportation officers with ERO Boston’s Hartford suboffice arrested an unlawfully present Guatemalan national convicted of first-degree manslaughter in Somers. The officers arrested the 35-year-old Guatemalan national in Somers after state officials released him following completion of a portion of his sentence for manslaughter April 24.

“We are proud to have apprehended this unlawfully present individual convicted of manslaughter in Connecticut,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons. “When unlawfully present people commit heinous crimes like manslaughter, we are committed to removing them no matter how long it takes. I’m very proud of our ERO Boston team in Hartford for their work in apprehending this convicted killer, who clearly posed a threat to public safety of the residents of Connecticut.”

In March 2007, the Guatemalan citizen unlawfully entered the United States at an unknown location without inspection by any immigration authority.

On Oct. 11, 2013, following his arrest and incarceration for first-degree manslaughter, ERO Boston officers from the Hartford office encountered the Guatemalan national at the MacDougall Correctional Institute in Suffield and filed an immigration detainer for his custody with the Connecticut Department of Corrections.

A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge in Hartford issued a final order of removal for the Guatemalan citizen Feb. 6, 2014.

On April 24, 2024, the Guatemalan national was released from Osborn Correctional Institution after serving 10 years of a 17-year prison sentence. Deportation officers with ERO Boston’s Hartford office arrested him following his release from state custody in Somers.

He will be held in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

As part of its mission to identify and arrest removable noncitizens, ERO lodges immigration detainers against noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity and taken into custody by state or local law enforcement. An immigration detainer is a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to state or local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE as early as possible before a removable noncitizen is released from their custody. Detainers request that state or local law enforcement agencies maintain custody of the noncitizen for a period not to exceed 48 hours beyond the time the individual would otherwise be released, allowing ERO to assume custody for removal purposes in accordance with federal law.

Detainers are critical public safety tools because they focus enforcement resources on removable noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity. Detainers increase the safety of all parties involved — ERO personnel, law enforcement officials, removable noncitizens and the public — by allowing an arrest to be made in a secure and controlled custodial setting as opposed to at-large within the community. Because detainers result in the direct transfer of a noncitizen from state or local custody to ERO custody, they also minimize the potential that an individual will reoffend. Additionally, detainers conserve scarce government resources by allowing ERO to take criminal noncitizens into custody directly rather than expending resources locating these individuals at-large.

ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is a separate entity from the Department of Homeland Security 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.

Members of the public can report crimes or suspicious activity by dialing the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.

Learn more about ERO Boston’s mission to increase public safety in our New England communities on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @EROBoston.