U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston recently announced it successfully removed an unlawfully present foreign fugitive back to his home country of Honduras to face charges of serious crimes.
According to a Nov. 22 news release, Honduran national Rony Roberto Lagos-Corrales, 35, was living in the United States illegally while wanted for charges of murder, attempted murder and illicit associations. On Nov. 18, U.S. authorities flew Lagos-Corrales to San Pedro Sula, Honduras' Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport where Honduran law enforcement officers took him into custody.
“Foreign fugitives who flee criminal prosecution in their home country with hopes of hiding out in the ERO Houston area of responsibility will quickly find that there is no safe haven in Southeast Texas for wanted criminals,” Matt Baker, acting field office director for ERO Houston, said in the release. “Our immigration officers work closely with their state and local counterparts and are uniquely trained to track down unlawfully present foreign fugitives to repatriate them to their home country to face justice for the crimes they are alleged to have committed.”
The release reported Lagos-Corrales entered the U.S. illegally on an unknown date. On April 26, 2018, he was arrested in Springfield, Va., during a targeted enforcement action. On May 16, 2018, he was released from ICE custody on an immigration bond, but failed to appear for subsequent immigration hearings.
An immigration judge ordered Lagos-Corrales removed to Honduras in absentia May 20, 2019. On Sept. 15, ERO Houston officers located Lagos-Corrales who was locked up at the Brazoria County Jail in Angleton, Texas, after being arrested for committing local crimes, the release reported.
