MANASSAS, VA – United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with the Enforcement and Removal Operations announced the arrest of an illegal alien who was on the top 100 list of El Salvador’s most wanted criminals.
The man had been deported twice from the United States before his most recent arrest on active warrants for illicit association and extortion.
Herberth Bonilla-Garcia, 40, was arrested in Manassas back on Dec. 1. ICE said he is listed as one of El Salvador's top 100 most wanted criminals. https://t.co/cLtC1jENxh
— WUSA9 (@wusa9) December 30, 2022
Federal officials received word from the FBI on October 14th that the alleged documented MS-13 member, 40-year-old Herberth Bonilla-Garcia, was hiding in northern Virginia. After learning of his possible whereabouts, ICE and ERO contacted an ICE foreign service national investigator for the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador, El Salvador, to confirm that Bonilla-Garcia was still on the notorious most wanted list.
The ICE foreign service national investigator was able to confirm that Bonilla-Garcia’s warrants for illicit association and aggravated extortion were still active. Federal officials learned Bonilla-Garcia’s warrants became active in January and April 2015.
ICE and ERO officials reported this was not the first time Bonilla-Garcia illegally entered the country. Federal officials announced Bonilla-Garcia had been captured twice while illegally staying in the United States. They reported:
“Bonilla-Garcia previously entered the U.S. at least twice on an unknown date, at an unknown location without, and without having been admitted or paroled by a designated immigration official. He was previously removed from the U.S. in both 2006 and 2012.”
Armed with the information from the FBI, ICE and ERO officials moved in and were able to locate Bonilla-Garcia in Manassas, Virginia where he was taken into custody without reported incident. He is currently being kept in custody by ERO in northern Virginia until he is deported to El Salvador to answer for the charges against him.
Erik Weiss, the Assistant Field Office Director of ERO in Washington, D.C., announced the arrest and noted something troubling,
“Herberth Bonilla-Garcia has a history of unlawfully entering the U.S. and this time he apparently did so to escape justice in his home country. The United States is not a safe haven for the world’s criminals. ERO Washington, D.C. remains committed to protecting our residents by enforcing our laws and exhausting every effort to ensure fugitives face the justice they seek to evade.”
MS-13 gang suspect listed on El Salvador's most wanted list was arrested in Virginia despite being deported from the United States twice. Arrested Herberth Bonilla-Garcia, 40, during a raid in Manassas, Virginia, on Dec. 1. pic.twitter.com/PVskULL8zl
— D. Scott @eclipsethis2003 (@eclipsethis2003) December 29, 2022
Bonilla-Garcia was not the only illegal alien busted in Virginia announced by the ERO in December. Federal officials also reported they took a Honduran national, an illegal alien, into custody in Alexandria, Virginia on December 19th.
ERO officials located 42-year-old Juan Jose Meijua-Ramirez, who has been deported three times and had an active warrant for illegally re-entering the country. ICE ERO reported Meijua-Ramirez not only had an active warrant for sneaking into the country, but he is a violent convicted felon.
Mejia-Ramirez was first convicted in 2001 for manufacturing, sale, and/or possession of a fictitious operator’s license along with breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony and discharging a firearm or missile in or at an occupied building. After his convictions for these charges, he received another conviction in 2003 for prostitution.
After these convictions, Meija-Ramirez was convicted in 2009 for driving while intoxicated. Police officials reported Meija-Ramirez had a blood alcohol level of .15-.20% at the time of his arrest.
ERO reported Meija-Ramirez was deported from the country after he completed the sentences for his crimes. Despite being deported, Mejia-Ramirez has been captured and deported three other times, (2009, 2013, and 2018), before his latest capture.
Following his arrest, ICE ERO Assistant Director for Enforcement, Chris Cronen, reported:
“Juan Jose-Mejia-Ramirez has displayed a pattern of disregard for the American legal system – not only by consistently breaking our laws but also by repeatedly and unlawfully crossing our borders. The dedicated officers who make up ICE ERO have proven time and time again that we are committed to the arrest and removal of any unlawfully present criminal who is looking to endanger the lives of the individuals we have sworn to protect.
“ICE ERO continues our mission to protect our communities through the enforcement of immigration law against those who present a danger to our national security, are a threat to public safety, or who otherwise undermine the integrity of our immigration system.”
In a press release, ICE reported:
“ICE officers make enforcement decisions on a case-by-case basis in a professional and responsible manner, informed by their experience as law enforcement officials and in a way that best protects against the greatest threats to the homeland.”
ERO reported that they have taken over 12,000 ‘non-citizens’ into custody throughout the fiscal year 2021 who had aggravated felony convictions. In addition, they reported:
“Offenses associated with noncitizens arrested in FY 2021 included 1,506 homicide-related offenses, 2,415 sexual assaults, 19,549 assaults, 2,717 robberies, and 1,063 kidnappings.”
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