U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested two violent criminals this week wanted in El Salvador and Brazil. They include an MS-13 gang member on El Salvador’s Top 100 list and a Brazilian military officer involved in a 2015 massacre.
The MS-13 gang member was previously deported and recently illegally entered the U.S. It’s unknown how long the Brazilian has been in the U.S.
On Aug. 11, U.S. Immigration & Custom Enforcement’s Enforcement & Removal Operations (ERO)-New Orleans division agents apprehended an MS-13 gang member on El Salvador’s Top 100 Most Wanted list.
Juan Carlos Portillo, 29, a fugitive from El Salvador, was wanted for aggravated kidnapping, attempted aggravated homicide, aggravated extortion, terrorist organization, deprivation of liberty and aggravated homicide.
Portillo is also known as Juan Alberto Zamora-Zamora, Jose Adalberto Lopez-Lopez, and his MS-13 name Pirana, ICE says. A warrant was issued for his arrest in El Salvador on March 11, 2014.
On Dec. 7, 2022, Border Patrol agents arrested Portillo near Hidalgo, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. They then processed him for expedited removal and ERO Harlingen agents removed him to El Salvador on Dec. 23.
However, at “an unknown date at an unknown place, Portillo illegally reentered the United States without having been admitted or paroled by an immigration officer,” ICE said – until he was caught by ERO-New Orleans agents last week.
On July 5, agents working at ERO New Orleans’ Birmingham, Alabama, suboffice received information from ERO San Salvador through a Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement initiative that Portillo may be residing in Columbiana, Alabama.
On Aug. 11, agents from that office arrested Portillo in Chelsea, Alabama. Upon further investigation, they learned that since May 5, 2011, Portillo was a subject of interest for aggravated homicide and gang affiliation in El Salvador. He remains in ICE custody pending his removal from the United States.
