U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers this week captured two violent criminals wanted in El Salvador and Brazil. One is a member of the MS-13 gang on El Salvador’s 100 most wanted list, and the other is a former military police officer who took part in a massacre in Brazil in 2015.
Immigration authorities previously deported the MS-13 member, but he returned to the United States illegally, officials said. The former Brazilian military officer was arrested in New Hampshire on Monday, but no further details were provided on how he arrived in the country.
On August 11, officials from ICE’s Office of Enforcement and Suppression Operations (ERO) in New Orleans arrested 29-year-old MS-13 member Juan Carlos Portillo in Chelsea, Alabama, officials announced Monday in a press release.
Portillo, also known as Juan Alberto Zamora-Zamora, Jose Adalberto Lopez-Lopez, and as MS-13 Pirana, is on El Salvador’s 100 most wanted list. He is the subject of an arrest warrant issued in El Salvador on March 11, 2014, ICE said.
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Juan Carlos Portillo, 29, an illegal alien fugitive, was wanted in El Salvador for aggravated kidnapping, attempted aggravated homicide, aggravated extortion, terrorist organization, deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide, ICE said. (PNC El Salvador)
Portillo is wanted in El Salvador for aggravated kidnapping, attempted aggravated homicide, aggravated extortion, terrorist organization, deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide.
On December 7, 2022, Portillo was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, and deported to El Salvador on December 23. However, ICE said he managed to re-enter the country illegally without being admitted or paroled by an immigration service. officer.
ERO New Orleans sub-office in Birmingham received information from ERO San Salvador on July 5, 2023, that Portillo resided in Columbiana, Alabama. After further investigation, ERO officials made the arrest at Chelsea on August 11.
“This member of the MS-13 gang blatantly ignored the laws both in his home country and here in the United States and this arrest sends the message that we will not allow our communities to be safe havens. for violent criminals,” said ERO New Orleans Field Office Manager. Melissa Harper. “By apprehending and deporting dangerous individuals like Portillo who are part of transnational criminal organizations, ERO officers are making our communities safer.”
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An ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Officer. (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)
Brazilian Antônio José de Abreu Vidal Filho, 29, is a former military police officer convicted of several murders and sentenced to more than 200 years in prison for his role in a Brazilian massacre in 2015.
Vidal Filho was the subject of an active Interpol Red Notice issued by the international criminal police organization after he was found guilty of 11 murders and sentenced in June to nearly 276 years in prison, the office said on Wednesday. Boston-based ICE ERO in a press release.
He was arrested Monday in Rye, New Hampshire, and will remain in custody pending a hearing before a federal immigration judge.
Vidal Filho was convicted by a Brazilian criminal court, along with three other military police officers, of the murder of 11 people, three attempted homicides and acts of torture in the poor suburb of Fortaleza, the state capital from Ceara.
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Former Brazilian military police officer Antonio Jose De Abreu Vidal Filho, who was convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to more than 200 years in prison, was arrested Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in New Hampshire, officials said. of immigration. (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP)
He is one of about 20 officers on trial for the massacre, according to The Associated Press.
“The arrest of this highly dangerous foreign fugitive is an outstanding example of the professionalism and expertise of ERO Boston officers,” said Todd Lyons, ERO Boston field office manager. “We are proud to have removed this notorious criminal, convicted of involvement in several heinous murders in Brazil, from our streets.”
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In fiscal year 2022, ORE arrested 46,396 illegal aliens with criminal histories. Arrestees had an average of 4.3 counts and convictions per individual, including more than 20,000 counts or convictions of assault, 5,500 of weapons offences, 1,500 of homicide and 1,100 for kidnapping. The deportations also included 2,667 known or suspected gang members, 55 known or suspected terrorists, seven human rights violators and 74 foreign fugitives wanted by their governments for crimes including homicide, rape, terrorism and kidnapping, according to the ERO.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.