An illegal migrant gotaway and accused killer flashed a sinister smile as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Chicago prepared him to board a deportation flight back to his home country of Honduras, where he is wanted for murder.
ICE officers arrested Edwin Fernando Figueroa-Martinez, 35, who snuck into the US as a gotaway at an unknown place and time, in Lyons, Illinois, in August, the agency said Friday.
Figueroa-Martinez was flown back to Honduras on Monday, when he was turned over to local authorities “without incident,” said ICE.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Chicago Field Office Director Sam Olson emphasized that the agency has a “duty … to protect communities across the US,” in a statement.
“We will do everything within our authority to locate, arrest, and detain those noncitizens that attempt to hide within our nation from being held responsible for crimes in their country of origin,” said Olson.
During the last four years of the Biden administration, more than 1.7 million migrants are known to have snuck across the border as migrant gotaways who successfully evaded arrest.
The number is likely much more, but are undetected by cameras along the border because the Biden administration has failed to fix 30% of the broken detectors.
Tracking them down will now become a major challenge for the incoming Trump administration, which has promised to deport millions of illegal migrants.
Incoming border czar Tom Homan says the mass deportation initiative will first prioritize the arrests and removals of migrant criminals.
He recently told The Post that the incoming admin will pressure sanctuary cities to comply.
If they don’t, he said, they will file lawsuits and withhold federal funding.
If that doesn’t work, they will “flood” those cities with ICE officers, who will be waiting outside local jails for illegal migrants to be released.
