The recent case of a Honduran national, who was wanted in his home country on charges of murdering a family member, is a glaring example of the porous nature of the U.S. border and the government’s inability to track illegal aliens. After two illegal entries and one murder, Laureano Garcia-Zelaya, was finally removed from the United States last Friday by officers with ICE.
Garcia-Zelaya, 36, entered the United States illegally in April 2004 near Eagle Pass, Texas, where he was encountered by the Border Patrol and issued a Notice to Appear before an immigration judge. Garcia-Zelaya subsequently became an ICE fugitive when he failed to appear for his court hearing in May 2004 and an immigration judge ordered him removed in absentia.
While Garcia-Zelaya was an immigration fugitive he subsequently returned to Honduras at an unknown time where he then allegedly murdered a young woman in September 2006 by shooting her multiple times, according to an arrest warrant issued by a Honduran court in Trujillo, Colón.
Garcia-Zelaya then reentered the United States illegally at an unknown place or time, and in April 2013, ICE ERO New Orleans fugitive operations officers arrested Garcia-Zelaya in Harvey, La., during a targeted enforcement operation. At that time, a criminal records check of the INTERPOL database did not indicate he was wanted for murder.
Immigration advocacy groups subsequently petitioned ICE to release Garcia-Zelaya and stay his removal by granting prosecutorial discretion; this petition included letters of support from multiple elected officials. Garcia-Zelaya was subsequently released on an order of supervision in May 2013.
In September 2014, during a status check, ICE discovered the issuance of an INTERPOL Red Notice for Garcia-Zelaya on the Honduran murder charge; on October 2 ERO New Orleans re-arrested Garcia and revoked his stay of removal.
Garcia-Zelaya was removed by ERO officers via an ICE Air Operations charter aircraft Friday from Alexandria International Airport in Alexandria to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. From there, ERO officers transferred him into the custody of Honduran National Police.