ERO Salt Lake City removes Honduran national wanted for domestic violence

SALT LAKE CITY - Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Salt Lake City removed an unlawfully present foreign fugitive Oct. 5 wanted for domestic violence by law enforcement authorities in his home country of Honduras.

Melvin Omar Garcia-Lopez, 39, flew from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, and arrived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, via chartered aircraft. Upon arrival in Honduras, Garcia was turned over to the proper authorities.

Garcia was first discovered in the United States May 8, 2011, in Bellingham, Washington, when U.S. Border Patrol apprehended him. He was removed to Honduras June 30, 2011, and subsequently four more times in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. ERO officers arrested him Dec. 1, 2022, in Bozeman, Montana, and turned him over to the custody of U.S. Marshals Service. He was then prosecuted for reentry after deportation, a felony.

ERO Salt Lake City assumed custody of Garcia at the Nye County Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada, upon his release July 13. He arrived in his home country after exhausting all legal options to remain in the United States.

Noncitizens placed into removal proceedings receive their legal due process from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the 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. ICE officers carry out the removal decisions made by the federal immigration judges.

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 and suspicious activity by dialing 866-347-2423 or completing the online tip form. Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in your community on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EROSaltLakeCity. The Salt Lake City area of responsibility includes Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Montana.