ICE removes MS-13 gang member wanted in El Salvador for extortion

PHILADELPHIA – A 22-year-old MS-13 gang member wanted in El Salvador on extortion charges was removed Friday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers in Philadelphia.

Josue Wilfredo Diaz-Arriaga, who is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice for extortion of individuals for protection money, was ordered removed by an immigration judge in November 2015.  He was turned over without incident to Salvadoran authorities Jan. 22 in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Diaz-Arriaga 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 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 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 the Policia Nacional Civil (PNC), El Salvador’s national police.

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

In fiscal 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 of 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.