ICE El Paso removes Mexican fugitive wanted for 2011 homicide
EL PASO, Texas — A Mexican man, wanted for homicide in his home country, was deported last week by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
Juan Saul Mendoza-Contreras, 29, also known as “El Chacala,” was turned over to Mexican authorities at the international boundary on El Paso’s Stanton Bridge Port of Entry.
According to Mexican court filings, on Aug. 20, 2011, Mendoza-Contreras fatally shot Efren Arcega-Lopez at least four times in the back in Jalisco, Mexico. Arcega-Lopez, 41, was shot as he attempted to walk away from a verbal argument.
On July 8, 2012, Mendoza-Contreras was arrested by police in San Bernadino, California, for driving under the influence of alcohol. ERO Los Angeles officers encountered him later that day at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucumonga, California. Mendoza-Contreras was processed and voluntarily returned to Mexico.
A month later, Mendoza-Contreras illegally re-entered the United States near San Isidro, California. On Jan. 31, 2016, ERO Denver officers lodged an immigration detainer on him when he was encountered at the Denver Justice Center in Denver, and they served him with a notice to appear before a federal immigration judge.
On Feb. 8, the Mexican attorney general’s office in El Paso advised the local ICE office of the arrest warrant for homicide issued in Jalisco for Mendoza-Contreras; ERO’s assistance was requested in turning him over to Mexican authorities at the time of his removal.
“ICE routinely works hand-in-hand with our international law enforcement partners to remove illegal aliens in the United States who are trying to evade justice in their home country,” said Corey A. Price, field office director of ERO El Paso. “These criminal alien removals ultimately improve public safety in our local communities and in our country.”
Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 720 foreign fugitives from the United States who were being sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office of International Operations, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the country.
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