Staff
The El Paso Journal
Thursday, January 12, 2023 | 19:59
Step.- The El Paso Field Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on January 6 repatriated two non-citizen undocumented fugitives wanted in El Salvador. One was wanted for homicide, another for human trafficking.
ICE ERO El Salvador, its Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) task force assisted with the removal.
Benito Arevalo Gochez Ruballo, 47; and Erika Beatriz Rivera Crespin, 35, were transferred to their country of origin on an ICE air operations charter flight. Both were detained by law enforcement officials shortly after the flight landed in El Salvador, where they are charged.
Gochez Ruballo faces charges in his country of origin for illegal grouping, solicitation or concert to commit aggravated homicide and manslaughter. Rivera Crespin is wanted for human trafficking.
“Dangerous criminals, who attempt to evade justice in their home countries by seeking a safe haven in the United States, won’t find it here,” said Mary De Anda, ERO El Paso Acting Field Office Director. “ICE is committed to identifying, locating, arresting, and ultimately removing foreign fugitives to keep our country and our communities safe.”
ERO officers make responsible case-by-case enforcement decisions, informed by their experience as law enforcement professionals and in a manner that best protects against the greatest threats to homeland.
Non-citizens placed in removal proceedings receive their due process of law from federal immigration judges in the immigration courts, which are administered by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). EOIR is an agency within the United States Department of Justice and is separate from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case. ICE officers carry out removal decisions made by federal immigration judges.
In fiscal year (FY) 2022, ERO arrested 46,396 non-citizens with criminal records; this group had associated 198 thousand 498 charges and convictions. These included 21,531 assault crimes; 8,164 sexual offenses and sexual assault; 5,554 crimes with weapons; 1,501 crimes related to homicides; and 1,114 crimes of kidnapping.
The ICE ERO Directorate upholds US immigration law at, within, and beyond our borders. ERO operations target threats to public safety, such as convicted non-citizen criminals and gang members, as well as individuals who have otherwise violated our nation’s immigration laws, including those who re-entered the country illegally after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges. . ERO deportation officers assigned to Interpol also help identify foreign fugitives or Fugitive Arrest and Removal (FAR) cases for crimes committed abroad or in the United States, as well as their transportation and removal. In addition, ERO repatriates non-citizens ordered removed from the United States to more than 170 countries around the world.
Members of the public can report crimes or suspicious activity by calling 866-347-2423 or by completing ICE’s online reporting form.
Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in your community on Twitter @EROElPaso.
