I.C.E. News Release

September 10, 2009

ICE deports Mexican fugitive for murder

EL PASO, Texas - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers deported a man wanted for murder by authorities in Mexico on Thursday.

Arturo Archundia-Reyna, 37, was turned over to Mexican authorities at 10 a.m. on September 10 at the Port of El Paso's Stanton Street Bridge. Archundia-Reyna is wanted in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, for the June 1999 murder of Erick Sanchez Diaz.

Archundia-Reyna entered the country illegally in 1999 near Douglas, Ariz. He has been sought by Interpol since March 2000. Last month, the St. Louis County Police Department contacted ICE special agents regarding a warrant for Archundia-Reyna.

Later that day, officers with the Richmond Heights Police Department arrested Archundia-Reyna at his home in Hazelwood, Mo., and turned him over to ICE.

An immigration judge ordered Archundia-Reyna removed to Mexico on August 19. A week later the Mexican attorney general's office asked ICE for assistance in returning the fugitive to Mexico. Archundia-Reyna, who was arrested and charged on administrative immigration charges, arrived in El Paso on September 4 on an ICE flight that originated in Chicago.

"The assistance and cooperation from our state and local law enforcement partners is invaluable in locating and identifying aliens who try to elude justice," said Alfredo Campos, acting field office director for the ICE Office of Detention and Removal Operations in El Paso. "Whenever ICE deports these fugitives, both countries benefit."

This is the tenth Mexican murder suspect ICE has deported through El Paso in the past 11 months. Eight other fugitives wanted for crimes such as alien smuggling, kidnapping and rape have also been deported as part of a bi-national agreement between ICE and Mexico's attorney general's office.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Thursday, September 10, 2009
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0909/090910elpaso.htm