U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week deported an illegal alien living in Washington State who’d been convicted of child molestation and soliciting a minor.
According to ICE, 46-year-old Ricardo Arturo Santiago-Silva, a Mexican national living illegally in the U.S., was convicted in May of 2019 of molesting a child and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. He was sentenced to nearly three years in prison.
Following his release, ICE lodged a detainer against Santiago-Silva asking local authorities to alert them before he was set to be released. Federal immigration authorities were able to take custody of him and deport him back to Mexico – on a chartered jet paid for by American taxpayers, of course. It remains to be seen whether he’ll simply return to the U.S. illegally, as has been the habit of many convicted and deported criminal aliens over the years.
This week, ICE also deported a 28-year-old Gerardo Muniz-Vazquez, another Mexican citizen living illegally in the U.S. Muniz-Vasquez had been convicted in Oregon in 2018 of kidnapping and assault and sentenced to 34 months in prison. He was deported this week – again, via a chartered jet – and handed over to Mexican law enforcement.
ICE officials praised local authorities in both cases for cooperating with federal immigration agencies and working with them to transfer custody of criminal aliens so they can be removed from the country after serving time for their crimes.
“The safe and secure transfer of this convicted kidnapper is an excellent example of how law enforcement partnerships should work,” said ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Seattle Field Office Director Nathalie Asher. “By honoring ICE’s immigration detainer, and safely transferring custody of this convicted criminal alien, our law enforcement partners have prevented an at large arrest and the unnecessary increased risk that comes along with it.”