Fears of raids by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surfaced on Marco Island this week. There was an arrest by ICE on June 11, according to the Marco Island Police Department, but it was not a raid.“(ICE) came to the Island to locate and arrest an individual with an outstanding fugitive warrant. Contrary to some concerns, this was not an immigration raid,” David Ennis, a captain with the Marco Island Police Department (MIPD), wrote in an email statement to media and posted on the department’s social media accounts. “Agents were specifically focused on locating one individual who was working in the area due to his past criminal activity.”
Social media reports from residents warned Marco Islanders that ICE was in the city.
Cristian Alberto Rivas-Escalante, 29, was arrested on Marco Island on a construction job site where he was working, Mike Meares, ICE public affairs officer in Tampa in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement and Removal Operations. Rivas-Escalante was living in Southwest Florida, off the island somewhere, he said.
Rivas-Escalante entered the U.S. illegally in 2015 and has a warrant for his arrest in his home country of El Salvador, said Meares, who said he was in Marco Island for the arrest. Considered a “criminal alien,” Rivas-Escalante is “an associate of the 18th Street Gang.”
The 18th Street Gang is considered a rival of the MS-13 gang, which the Department of State designated as a foreign terrorist organization Feb. 20. Ms-13 originated in Los Angeles and rapidly grew in Central America following several members’ deportations.
The El Salvador criminal warrant against Rivas-Escalante is for “illicit associations with the 18th Street Gang,” Meares said.
Rivas-Escalante was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, in December 2015, after illegally entering into the U.S., Meares said. An Immigration Judge granted Rivas-Escalante a bond, allowing “him an opportunity to contest his immigration case while residing in the community.”
On June 11, Rivas-Escalante was arrested in Marco Island by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement Removal Operations Fugitive Operations, with the assistance of ICE Homeland Security Investigation Fort Myers, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Marco Island Police Department.
“He is a criminal alien here illegally,” Meares said. “We had a plan to go get him.”
The Trump administration increases quotas to detain thousands of migrants each day, with ICE data indicating substantial increases in detainees. More than 51,000 people are in custody as of June 1, an increase of more than 30% since Jan. 12, data shows. The agency is currently funded to house around 41,500 detainees, according to Reuters, cited by USA Today.
What’s next?
Rivas-Escalante is being held by ICE, likely at its main Florida detention center in Miami, Krome North Service Processing Center, Meares said. Naples Daily News sent an email to the processing center seeking confirmation.
“He was arrested for being a foreign fugitive,” Meares said. “We will still have to go to immigration proceedings here. Here very soon, he’ll go through immigration proceedings while in our custody. … Ultimately, he will be removed and be handed over to El Salvadorian officials.”
This article originally appeared on Marco Eagle: With help of local law enforcement, ICE arrests El Salvador fugitive on Marco Island
Reporting by J. Kyle Foster, Naples Daily News / Marco Eagle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
