SAN ANTONIO — A fugitive Salvadoran gang member wanted for violent crimes in his home country was deported Tuesday by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

This removal is the latest result of stepped-up collaborative efforts to locate Salvadoran criminal fugitives in the United States and return them to El Salvador to face justice.

Aristides Inoc Juarez-Villalobos, 21, an MS-13 gang member, was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice for various violent crimes ranging from extortion to illegally moving firearms. According to authorities, the weapons allegation resulted when a meeting was scheduled to execute a citizen of Juarez-Villalobos’s hometown area of Chinameca y Lolotique del Departamento de San Miguel.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to focus its resources on removing violent criminals and other high-priority aliens who pose the greatest threat to our communities," said Enrique M. Lucero, field office director of ERO San Antonio. "This latest removal ensures that this individual will face justice for the criminal allegations against him."

Juarez-Villalobos was encountered Jan. 26, 2015, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) near Carrizo Springs, Texas, after he illegally entered the United States.  On Feb. 4, 2015, he was transferred to the South Texas Detention Complex, in Pearsall, Texas, to await his deportation. On Nov. 19, 2015, an immigration judge issued him a final order of removal.  On March 8, 2016, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissed Juarez-Villalobos’s appeal and affirmed the judge’s decision to deport him back to El Salvador.

ERO officers removed Juarez-Villalobos April 12 via an ICE Air charter flight from Laredo, Texas, to San Salvador, El Salvador, where he was turned over to Salvadoran authorities.

This removal was part of ERO’s Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) Initiative. The SAFE Initiative is geared toward the identification of foreign fugitives who are wanted abroad and removable under U.S. immigration law.

In just four years, through the SAFE Initiative, ERO has removed more than 630 criminal fugitives to El Salvador. Those removed as part of the SAFE Initiative have been deemed ineligible to remain in the United States and were all wanted by El Salvador’s National Police Force.

SAFE aligns with ERO’s public safety priorities and eliminates the need for formal extradition requests.

Since Oct. 1, 2009, ERO has removed more than 1,150 foreign fugitives from the United States who were sought in their native countries for serious crimes, including kidnapping, rape and murder. ERO works with the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office of International Operations, foreign consular offices in the United States, and Interpol to identify foreign fugitives illegally present in the United States. Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to contact ICE by calling the toll-free ICE tip line at 1 (866) 347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICE’s online tip form.

In fiscal 2015, ICE removed or returned 235,413 individuals. Of this total, 165,935 were apprehended while, or shortly after, attempting to illegally enter the United States. The remaining 69,478 were apprehended in the interior of the United States, and the vast majority of these were convicted criminals who fell within ICE's civil immigration enforcement priorities.

Ninety-eight percent of ICE's fiscal 2015 removals and returns fell into one or more of ICE's civil immigration enforcement priorities, with 86 percent falling in Priority 1 and eight percent in Priority 2. In addition, ICE's interior enforcement activities led to an increase in the percentage of interior removals that were convicted criminals, growing from 82 percent in fiscal 2013 to 91 percent in 2015.