ICE removes man wanted in El Salvador for aggravated homicide

WASHINGTON – A man wanted in his home country of El Salvador for aggravated homicide and criminal association was removed from the U.S. Friday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Emilio Coreas-Avelar, 24, an alleged MS-13 gang member, was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice issued in May 2015. Coreas-Avelar illegally entered the United States at an unknown location and date. In June, officers with ERO Washington’s Fugitive Operations Team investigated a lead into Coreas-Avelar’s whereabouts and arrested him at his residence in Burke, Virginia, where he admitted he was a citizen of El Salvador and illegally present in the U.S. At that point in time, ERO officers served him a notice to appear in immigration court. In September, an immigration judge ordered Coreas-Avelar removed from the U.S. to El Salvador.

In preparation for his removal, ERO officers transported Coreas-Avelar from Virginia, where he was being detained, to Louisiana. He departed the country on an ICE Air Operations charter flight from Alexandria, Louisiana, with a stopover in Dallas, Texas, before arriving at San Salvador International Airport in El Salvador Friday. There, ERO officers transferred Coreas-Avelar to the custody of El Salvadoran law enforcement officials.

This removal was part of ERO’s Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) Initiative. The SAFE Initiative is geared toward the identification of 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 600 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 the Policia Nacional Civil (PNC).

SAFE aligns with ERO’s public safety priorities and eliminates the need for formal extradition requests.