January 29, 2008

ICE deports Mexican drug enforcer after he served prison sentence
Wanted by Mexican authorities for providing security for drug cartel kingpins

CLEVELAND - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have deported a man wanted by Mexican authorities who is suspected of overseeing the protection of the Juarez Drug Cartel kingpins, as well as carrying out violent acts against rival criminal members and organizations.

ICE removed to Mexico Robert Orozco-Fernandez, aka "El Che," through the Brownsville, Texas, Port of Entry on Tuesday morning. He was handed over to Mexican authorities.

Members of ICE's Cleveland Criminal Alien Program (CAP) placed Orozco-Fernandez into ICE custody on Jan. 14 after he completed his prison sentence with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Northeastern Ohio Correction Center. According to information provided by authorities in Mexico, Orozco-Fernandez is wanted for organized crime, crimes against health (drug-related crimes); stockpiling firearms and ammunition, and money laundering.

Orozco-Fernandez entered the United States in El Paso, Texas, in 1978. He was arrested and convicted in California in 1999 for conspiring to aid and abet to distribute controlled substances; he was sentenced to 135 months in prison, with a five-year suspended release. While incarcerated, an immigration judge in 2000 ordered his deportation to Mexico.

"This case is yet another example of the close cooperation between foreign authorities, Mexico and ICE, to locate and apprehend a dangerous individual," said Vincent Clausen, field office director for the ICE Detention and Removal Office in Detroit. "ICE's Criminal Alien Program helps make communities safer, and serves as notice for international criminals that the United States is not a safe haven to avoid the law in their home countries." Clausen's area of responsibility includes the states of Ohio and Michigan.

ICE's Criminal Alien Program focuses on identifying criminal aliens who are incarcerated within federal, state and local facilities. CAP ensures that these criminal aliens are not released into the community after they serve their prison sentences. Final orders of deportation are secured before their sentences are completed, which minimizes the time they spend in ICE detention.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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