In a joint operation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested an illegal alien murder suspect in North Chesterfield, Virginia. The suspect also racked up criminal convictions in the United States, with a DWI conviction in 2014 and two more convictions that year for driving without a license.
The 38-year-old man, Demetrio Ignacio-Flores, an illegal alien from Mexico, is wanted by authorities in Oaxaca, Mexico, as a suspect in his wife's murder in 2010. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) learned Ignacio-Flores was living in the Richmond-area using an assumed identity. Partnering with ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), Ignacio-Flores was arrested on at his residence on Thursday morning.
“The joint efforts of HSI special agents and ERO officers led to the arrest of a dangerous individual who had illegally sought safe haven in central Virginia,” said Raymond Villanueva, special agent in charge of HSI Washington, D.C.
U.S. Border Patrol previously encountered Ignacio-Flores at or near the Laredo Port of Entry in Apr. 2011 and allowed him to voluntarily return to Mexico. ICE said Ignacio-Flores illegally reentered the U.S. some point later.
Ignacio-Flores is currently in ICE custody, pending immigration proceedings before an immigration judge.
“This is the perfect example of why someone with low level convictions should be turned over to ICE. Even though Ignacio-Flores hadn’t been convicted of any high-level crimes in the U.S., he is wanted in his native country for murder,” said Lyle Boelens, acting field office director for ERO Washington, D.C.
Earlier this month, Border Patrol agents working an immigration checkpoint in New Mexico arrested a 20-year-old Salvadorian national attempting to conceal himself in a bathroom of a bus. Abel Alexander Castro Juarez was arrested after Border Patrol agents learned Juarez was wanted by Virginia authorities, charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Jose Alexander Villa Lobo Guevara the weekend prior.
On a typical day in 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents arrested an average of 23 wanted criminals.