U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported Ariel Nunez Figueroa, a 30-year-old Mexican national, to Mexico on March 6. Nunez is wanted in Mexico for charges related to kidnapping and organized crime due to his alleged involvement in the murder of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Teachers' College in September 2014.

ICE transferred Nunez from the Montgomery Processing Center located in Conroe, Texas, to the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge Port of Entry in Laredo, Texas. There, he was handed over to Mexican authorities.

"For nearly eleven years, this foreign fugitive evaded authorities while the family and friends of those 43 students who were brutally murdered patiently awaited justice for their loved ones," stated ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston Field Office Director Bret Bradford. "Thanks to outstanding teamwork by ICE, Interpol and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, we were able to successfully track him down and remove him to Mexico to face prosecution for his alleged crimes."

Nunez had entered the United States illegally at an unspecified time and location. On September 3, 2024, ICE received information from Interpol suggesting that Nunez might be residing in the Houston area. Subsequently, ICE fugitive operations officers quickly located him and took him into custody safely on September 9, 2024. An immigration judge from the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review ordered his removal to Mexico on January 22.

For more updates on ICE’s enforcement of immigration laws in Texas, follow them on X at @EROHouston.