BALTIMORE – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed a Salvadoran man today wanted for human trafficking in his native country after his arrest by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) personnel assigned to ICE offices in Baltimore.

Oscar Arturo Alfaro-Romero, a 35-year-old alien fugitive with multiple prior removals, was arrested by ICE May 10, 2017. He was processed as an alien previously removed, and qualified for removal under reinstatement. ICE was subsequently notified that Alfaro-Romero was wanted for crimes in El Salvador.

ICE officers transported Alfaro-Romero to Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in El Salvador where he was turned over to local law-enforcement authorities. ICE offices in El Salvador and its Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) taskforce provided key assistance to the Baltimore field office ahead of Alfaro-Romero’s arrest and subsequent removal.

“Alien fugitives avoiding arrest and prosecution for violent crimes committed overseas will find no protection in the United States,” said Dorothy Herrera-Niles, the field office director for ERO Baltimore. “ICE officers will continue to collaborate with global law enforcement, and aggressively pursue international criminals that threaten the public safety of our local-area communities.”

Alfaro-Romero was originally encountered by U.S Border Patrol (USBP) June 25, 2002, in Calexico, California, and falsely claimed to be a citizen and national of Mexico. He was processed by USBP and allowed to voluntary return to Mexico. He was encountered by USBP a second time April 20, 2012, near Hidalgo, Texas, where he identified as a citizen of El Salvador, and was processed as an expedited removal shortly thereafter. Alfaro-Romero was arrested a third time by USBP June 12, 2012, near Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and again removed to El Salvador two months later.

ERO leverages its SAFE taskforce to prioritize criminal alien removal efforts on returning Salvadoran nationals previously identified as having active warrants of arrest or Interpol Red Notices, to include MS-13 gang members. The taskforce provides criminal history on Salvadoran nationals who may have fled to the United Sates to evade justice for their crimes in El Salvador, and are now in removal proceedings or living in the United States legally or illegally.

ICE removed or returned 226,119 aliens in fiscal year 2017. The proportion of FY17 removals resulting from ICE arrests increased by nearly ten percent over the previous fiscal year, and the number of ICE interior removals in FY17 increased by over 15,000 from FY16.

ICE is focused on removing public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, as well as individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws, including those who illegally re-entered the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges.