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March 24, 2023Houston, TX, United StatesEnforcement and Removal

ERO Houston removes previously deported Honduran fugitive wanted for murder

Juan Manuel Mena Dolmo

HOUSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston, with assistance from ERO Honduras and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) in Honduras, removed Juan Manuel Mena Dolmo, a 35-year-old previously deported Honduran national, from the U.S. on March 22. Mena is wanted in Honduras for murder.

A charter flight coordinated U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Air Operations Unit flew Mena from Alexandria, Louisiana, to the Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Upon arrival, he was transferred into the custody of Honduran law enforcement authorities.

Mena first illegally entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location. On Dec. 27, 2013, he was encountered by ICE officers at the Summit County Jail in Akron, Ohio, following his arrest by the Cleveland Police Department for forgery, obstruction and driving a vehicle without an operator’s license. Mena was convicted of all three charges on March 26, 2014, in the Summit County Common Pleas Court and sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence. That same day, the Summit County Jail transferred Mena into ICE custody and he was placed into immigration proceedings. On June 2, 2014, an immigration judge with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review ordered Mena removed from the United States. ICE officers removed Mena from the U.S. on July 1, 2014.

Mena illegally reentered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location. On April 22, 2022, he was arrested by the Harris County Constable’s Office in Texas following a routine traffic stop after it was discovered that he was wanted in Honduras for murder. The Harris County Constable’s Office transferred Mena into ERO Houston custody that same day. On Dec. 20, 2022, an immigration judge ordered Mena removed from the United States. ERO Houston removed Mena from the U.S. on March 22, 2023.

“ERO Houston is committed to working with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to identify and remove foreign fugitives hiding out in the United States,” said ERO Houston acting Field Office Director Gabriel Martinez. “By removing foreign fugitives from our communities and repatriating them to their country of origin, we eliminate a threat to public safety and ensure that they face justice for their alleged crimes.”

The SAFE Program is a fugitive enforcement and information sharing partnership that was created in 2012 to better use subject information derived from local in-country investigative resources and leads to locate, apprehend, detain, and remove individuals residing in the U.S. illegally who were subject to foreign arrest warrants. The SAFE Program operates under the respective host nation’s AAR, which constructs a SAFE task force composed of relevant foreign law enforcement agencies, immigration authorities, attorneys general, and national identification repositories — as well as other regional, national, state and local government agencies. The managing AAR ensures that each task force member complies with SAFE policies and standards consistent with the program’s standard operating procedures. Once established, the AAR-led SAFE task force generates new leads and vets existing SAFE fugitive referrals for ERO action.

Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to contact ICE by calling the ICE Tip Line at 866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICE’s online tip form.

For more news and information on how the ICE ERO Houston field office carries out its immigration enforcement mission in Southeast Texas follow us on Twitter @EROHouston.

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