ICE removes MS-13 gang member to El Salvador
WASHINGTON – A Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang member wanted by El Salvadoran law enforcement authorities was removed from the United States Friday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
Luis Armando Hernandez-Segura, a 20-year-old citizen of El Salvador, illegally entered the United States at an unknown location and date. ERO officers arrested him in March in Herndon, Virginia, while assisting the Northern Virginia Gang Task Force with an operation. They subsequently issued him a notice to appear in immigration court. Interpol issued a Red Notice on behalf of El Salvador’s Policia Nacional Civil (PNC) in April for Hernandez-Segura’s arrest due to gang affiliation. In May, an immigration judge ordered Hernandez-Segura removed from the United States to El Salvador.
On Friday, Hernandez-Segura departed Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana on an ICE Air Operations charter flight and arrived at San Salvador International Airport in El Salvador where he was transferred to the custody of the PNC.
“When gang members illegally enter our country, the safety of our citizens is compromised,” said Yvonne Evans, field office director for ERO Washington, D.C. “We effectively make our nation safer with each gang member we remove from the United States.”
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 PNC.
SAFE aligns with ERO’s public safety priorities and eliminates the need for formal extradition requests.
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