ICE deports Salvadoran man wanted for human trafficking
BUFFALO, N.Y. — A 35-year-old Salvadoran man wanted in his home country on human trafficking charges was removed Friday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
Julio Francisco Alvarado is the subject of an outstanding warrant for human trafficking issued by Salvadoran authorities. ERO officers turned over Alvarado to the Policia Nacional Civil (PNC) of El Salvador upon his arrival in San Salvador.
Julio Francisco Alvarado was turned over to ICE in Buffalo, New York, Oct. 9, 2015, after U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered him at the Rainbow Bridge. CBP officers re-instated an earlier issued deportation order against Alvarado, who had a prior removal in 2004.
“ERO is committed to removing criminal fugitives who are wanted abroad and have been ordered removed,” said Field Office Director Michael Phillips of ERO Buffalo. “ICE will continue to focus agency resources on criminal aliens and other priorities.”
Alvarado is the latest removal to El Salvador as part of ERO’s Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) Initiative. The SAFE Initiative is geared toward identifying foreign fugitives who are wanted abroad and removable under U.S. immigration law.
In just three years, through the SAFE Initiative, ERO has removed more than 530 criminal fugitives to El Salvador. Those removed as part of the SAFE Initiative have been deemed ineligible to remain in the United States, and were all wanted by El Salvador’s national police.
SAFE aligns with ERO’s public safety priorities and eliminates the need for formal extradition requests.
In fiscal year 2015, ICE removed or returned 235,413 individuals. Of this total, 165,935 were apprehended while, or shortly after, attempting to illegally enter the United States. The remaining 69,478 were apprehended in the interior of the United States, and the vast majority were convicted criminals who fell within ICE's civil immigration enforcement priorities.
98 percent ICE's fiscal 2015 removals and returns fell into one or more of ICE's civil immigration enforcement priorities, with 86 percent falling in Priority 1 and 8 percent in Priority 2. In addition, ICE's interior enforcement activities led to an increase in the percentage of interior removals that were convicted criminals, growing from 82 percent in fiscal 2013 to 91 percent in 2015.
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