Ecuador’s 13th most wanted criminal was arrested in South Carolina last week, Enforcement and Removal Operations announced Tuesday.
ERO Atlanta deportation officers said fugitive César Leopoldo Cóndor Vaca, 29, was arrested during a targeted operation in Greenville, South Carolina, on January 30.
The deputy attaché in Ecuador notified the agency that Cóndor Vaca was likely in the US and wanted by authorities in his home country for femicide.
Ecuadorian media reported that he allegedly killed his wife in May 2019 and tried to pass off her death as a suicide. Her death was determined to be due to a “blow to the head,” and Vaca was named a suspect in September 2021.
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Ecuadorian fugitive César Leopoldo Cóndor Vaca was arrested in Greenville, South Carolina, by Enforcement and Removal deportation agents. (National Police of Ecuador)
His presence in Greenville was confirmed by ERO Atlanta and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents, who worked together to arrange for a secure arrest that would not endanger any innocent bystanders.
The exact location of his arrest was not shared.
“Foreign fugitives fleeing criminal prosecution in their home country will not find a safe haven in the United States,” said Sean Ervin, director of ERO’s Atlanta field office. “Our immigration officers work closely with their state and local counterparts and are specially trained to track down illegally present alien fugitives for repatriation to their home country to face justice for the crimes they are alleged to have committed.”
An ERO evaluation revealed that Vaca entered the US legally on March 15, 2021, but did not depart on the required date.
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FILE – Immigration and Customs Agent (FoxNews)
ERO Atlanta officers served him with a Notice to Appear and he will remain in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending removal proceedings.
Under the ERO, non-citizens placed in removal proceedings receive due process from federal immigration judges in immigration courts administered by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which is independent of the Department of Homeland Security. and ICE.
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Federal immigration judges in court then make decisions based on each individual case, and ICE officers carry out removal decisions.
In fiscal year 2022, ERO reported that 46,396 non-citizens with 198,498 charges and convictions were arrested nationwide.
Of those charges, 21,531 were a form of assault, with the following breakdown: 8,164 sex-related and sexual assault crimes, 5,554 weapons crimes, 1,501 homicide-related crimes, and 1,114 kidnapping crimes.
