ICE deports violent career criminal alien wanted in the Cayman Islands

MIAMI - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday deported Ricky Marwick Rankin who was wanted on probation violation charges in the Cayman Islands.

Rankin, 40, a Caymanian national, was wanted by Caymanian law enforcement authorities for failure to comply with the terms of an order of release. His criminal convictions in the Cayman Islands span from 1990 and include attempted murder, burglary, assaulting police, consuming cocaine, assault causing actual bodily harm, damage to property, possession of cocaine, robbery, and possession of unlicensed firearm. On Dec. 5, 2003, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Cayman Islands and paroled in 2009.

"Returning this fugitive to the Cayman Islands is a prime example of how ICE works to ensure that international fugitives are returned to their home country to face justice," said Marc Moore, field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Miami. "ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal of convicted criminal aliens and as a result, our communities are safer and more secure."

On March 29, ICE special agents in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., obtained information that Rankin was residing in the South Florida area and was wanted by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service. ICE special agents discovered that Rankin was admitted into the United States on March 24 at Miami International Airport from Kingston, Jamaica, as a nonimmigrant visa waiver and provided false information on his nonimmigrant visa waiver arrival/departure form that he had never been arrested or convicted of a crime.

ICE special agents arrested Rankin in June on federal criminal charges for presenting an immigration document containing false statements and making false statements in an immigration document. On July 19, ICE special agents received an electronic copy of Rankin's "Recall to prison of prisoner released on license" indicating that it has come to the attention of the Governor of the Cayman Islands that Rankin failed to comply with the terms of the said order and that he be returned to prison in the Cayman Islands until the earliest date of release of his sentence.

On July 22, Rankin was convicted in the Southern District of Florida and sentenced to time served. He was later transferred into ICE ERO custody and processed for removal from the United States.

Wednesday, Rankin was removed on a flight out of Miami International Airport and turned over to the Cayman Islands Police Service at Owens Roberts International Airport in Georgetown, Cayman Islands.