PHILADELPHIA — Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Philadelphia arrested a national of the Dominican Republic after a nearly yearlong probe. He was released from local custody in November 2015, when a detainer lodged with Philadelphia authorities was not honored. In addition to the pending child rape charge, the man has previous convictions for manufacturing/distributing a controlled dangerous substance, resisting arrest/eluding an officer, and theft by unlawful taking.

Winston Enrique Perez Pilarte aka Josue Duran-Cortes, 40, was arrested and charged by the Philadelphia Police Department with attempted rape, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, aggravated indecent assault, unlawful restraint, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors, indecent assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. These charges are currently pending in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County.

After confirming his identity using biometric data, an ICE detainer was lodged against Perez Pilarte while he was detained at the Philadelphia Curran Fromhold Correctional Facility in July 2015. On Nov. 25, 2015, Perez Pilarte was released from local custody without being turned over on the ICE detainer.

An active investigation by ERO, led to the arrest of Perez Pilarte in September 2016. He is currently in ICE custody awaiting a hearing in immigration court.

"Our deportation officers will use every available resource at our disposal to find and arrest these alleged predators," said Tom Decker, ERO Philadelphia field office director. "However, one of our best resources to keep these dangerous criminals off of our streets and from committing more crimes is for the Mayor to honor our detainers and requests for notification. ICE is hopeful that the Mayor will work with us to keep our community safe."

In fiscal year 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.