Major ICE operation leads to arrests of five illegal Maryland immigrants with ‘serious’ criminal backgrounds

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday praised the arrests of five different illegal immigrants with “serious” criminal backgrounds in Maryland during a one-day raid.

Deportation officers on Oct. 18 apprehended several criminal aliens living illegally in the United States with criminal records of cartel associations, drug distribution, sexual assault and other crimes, ICE confirmed in a news release. The announcement follows other major crackdowns the agency has made in the state, which has a slew of jurisdictions that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“This targeted operation resulted in the arrest of five non-citizens with serious criminal histories including fentanyl distribution, gang activity, association with drug cartels, assault and sexual assault,” said Matthew Elliston, Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), Baltimore Field Office about the raid. . “ERO Baltimore will not tolerate these egregious non-citizen offenders victimizing our Maryland communities.”

Those arrested included Romeo Almengor Oxlaj-Lopez, a 24-year-old Guatemalan national and documented gang member convicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court of second-degree assault, and Denis Flores-Alvardo, a 38-year-old Honduran arrested by police of Howard County for driving under the influence and driving with a gun, and Noe Antonio Machado-Medrano, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national convicted of intent to distribute fentanyl, ICE said.

Deportation agents also arrested Jose Edgar Rivas-Arevalo, a 41-year-old previously deported Salvadoran citizen who was later convicted of second-degree assault in the District Court of Baltimore County, and Justin Jeremiah Johnson, an 18-year-old Trinidadian citizen who legally entered the U.S. , but violated the terms of his admission and was convicted of theft in Baltimore City Circuit Court, according to ICE.

Several of the places involved in the Oct. 18 raid have been labeled “sanctuary” jurisdictions by immigration analysts. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, Baltimore County, Howard County and Montgomery County are all designated as havens for laws that largely limit how local law enforcement can cooperate and communicate with ICE agents.

ICE agents working out of the Baltimore field office, which covers much of Maryland’s state lines, have had great success with their recent operations.

Baltimore field officers arrested 161 non-citizen sex offenders in fiscal year 2024, a spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation in September. The number marked an office record for any year and surpassed the previous record of 152 sex offenders apprehended by ICE agents in a single fiscal year.

Deportation officials in the US are likely to see their activities increase once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The president-elect has pledged to undertake the largest deportation operation in US history, and has also indicated he will use an emergency declaration and military resources to help achieve this goal.

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