ERO Houston removes Honduran fugitive wanted for murder

HOUSTON - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston, with assistance from ERO Honduras and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement in Honduras, removed Fredy Rufino Aguilar-Hernandez, a 38-year-old unlawfully present Honduran national, from the United States Oct. 25. Aguilar-Hernandez is wanted in Honduras for murder.

Aguilar-Hernandez was flown aboard a flight coordinated by ICE's Air Operations Unit from the Alexandria Staging Facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, to the Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Upon arrival, he was transferred into the custody of Honduran authorities.

On Sept. 12, 2018, Aguilar-Hernandez entered the United States as a nonimmigrant in Atlanta, Georgia. He was authorized to remain in the country until March 11, 2019, but failed to depart.

On Jan. 29, 2019, ERO Houston was notified by the ICE National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center that Aguilar-Hernandez was wanted in Honduras for murder. Based on that alert, ERO Houston fugitive operations officers immediately began actively working leads to locate him.

On May 23, 2024, ERO Houston fugitive operations officers successfully located Aguilar-Hernandez at a residence in Galveston, Texas, and he was taken into custody. On July 31, an immigration judge with the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review ordered Aguilar-Hernandez removed from the United States to Honduras. ICE officers carried out that order and he was removed to Honduras Oct. 25.

"For more than five years, ERO Houston fugitive operations officers tirelessly pursued this foreign fugitive to eradicate any threat he might pose to public safety," said ERO Houston Field Office Director Bret A. Bradford. "In May, they successfully tracked him down and safely took him into custody. As someone who knows first-hand the challenges that they face to execute our increasingly complex mission, it is humbling to watch the passion and dedication that they bring every day to their jobs. Without their unyielding commitment to uphold the integrity of our nation's immigration system, this dangerous fugitive would still be free in the community and his alleged victims in Honduras would be deprived of the justice they deserve."

The SAFE Program is a fugitive enforcement and information sharing partnership that was created in 2012 to better use subject information derived from local in-country investigative resources and leads to locate, apprehend, detain and remove individuals residing in the United States illegally who were subject to foreign arrest warrants. The SAFE Program operates under the respective host nation's AAR, which constructs a SAFE task force composed of relevant foreign law enforcement agencies, immigration authorities, attorneys general, and national identification repositories - as well as other regional, national, state and local government agencies. The managing AAR ensures that each task force member complies with SAFE policies and standards consistent with the program's standard operating procedures. Once established, the AAR-led SAFE task force generates new leads and vets existing SAFE fugitive referrals for ERO action.

Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives should contact ICE by calling the ICE Tip Line at 866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICE's online tip form.

For more news and information on how the ERO Houston field office carries out its immigration enforcement mission in Southeast Texas follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @EROHouston.