ERO Salt Lake City arrests 7 sexual predators in 2-week period

SALT LAKE CITY — Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Salt Lake City officers apprehended seven foreign nationals convicted of crimes with a sexual basis requiring them to register as sex offenders during a two-week local enforcement effort.

The effort includes noncitizens with final orders of removal. Cases amenable to federal criminal prosecution may be presented to the appropriate U.S. attorney’s office.

Those arrested include the following:

• A 43-year-old citizen of Mexico who was convicted of forcible sexual abuse, a felony, and will be removed to his native country.
• A 37-year-old citizen of Mexico who was arrested in Carson City, Nevada, Aug. 14. In January 2019, the District Court of Clark County convicted this noncitizen of attempted sexual assault of a minor and sentenced them to a term of 60 to 240 months.
• A 47-year-old citizen of Mexico who was arrested by ERO at the completion of his sentence in the Clark County Detention Center for sexual assault, victim under 14 years of age.
• A 50-year-old Guatemalan national convicted of seven counts of rape of a child. The noncitizen was encountered in the Washington County Jail in Hurricane, Utah, and will remain in ERO custody pending the outcome of their immigration proceedings.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targets and arrests noncitizens who have committed crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws. ICE officers, informed by their experience and training, use their discretion inherent as law enforcement officials to focus enforcement resources on people who threaten the homeland.

Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case. ERO officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges.

In fiscal year 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens with criminal histories. This group had 198,498 associated charges and convictions, including 21,531 assault offenses; 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses; 5,554 weapons offenses; 1,501 homicide-related offenses; and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.

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 . Callers may remain anonymous.

For more news and information on how the ERO Denver field office carries out its immigration enforcement mission, follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EROSaltLakeCity.