WASHINGTON – Deportation officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington, D.C. field office arrested a Salvadoran fugitive, who is listed as one of El Salvador’s top 100 most wanted criminals. ERO Washington D.C. apprehended Herberth Bonilla-Garcia, 40, during a targeted operation in Manassas, Virginia Dec. 1.
Bonilla-Garcia previously entered the U.S. at least twice on an unknown date, at an unknown location without, and without having been admitted or paroled by a designated immigration official. He was previously removed from the U.S. in both 2006 and 2012.
“Herberth Bonilla-Garcia has a history of unlawfully entering the U.S. and this time he apparently did so to escape justice in his home country,” said Assistant Field Office Director Erik Weiss of ERO Washington, D.C. “The United States is not a safe haven for the world’s criminals. ERO Washington, D.C. remains committed to protecting our residents by enforcing our laws and exhausting every effort to ensure fugitives face the justice they seek to evade.”
In January 2015 and April 2015, the Government of El Salvador issued arrest warrants for Bonilla-Garcia for the first for a charge of illicit association and second for aggravated extortion.
On Oct. 14, 2022, ERO Washington, D.C. received a lead referral for Bonilla-Garcia from the FBI regarding his possible presence in the Northern Virginia area.
An ICE foreign service national investigator for the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador, El Salvador confirmed Bonilla-Garcia was listed on El Salvador’s Top 100 Most Wanted Criminals and verified the warrants for illicit association and aggravated extortion.
Bonilla Garcia is being held in ERO custody until his removal to El Salvador.
HSI
