Federal immigration and law enforcement authorities carried out a series of arrests and deportations over the past week targeting criminal aliens with serious convictions, including child molestation, rape, aggravated abuse, and drug trafficking. The coordinated efforts involved officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, the Secret Service, and local sheriff’s departments.
On July 30, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in New Orleans confirmed the deportation of Eduardo Antonio Escobar Garcia, a Honduran national with a criminal conviction for molestation of a minor. Escobar Garcia was previously convicted in the United States and ordered removed to Honduras, where he was returned earlier this week.
In a separate case, ICE New Orleans also deported Abraham Melchor Vargas, a Mexican national whose criminal history includes convictions for weapons offenses and trafficking controlled substances. Vargas was previously sentenced to 60 months in prison for drug trafficking charges. According to ICE, he had completed his sentence and was processed for removal upon release.
Authorities in North Carolina arrested Marvin Jose Vasquez-Martinez, 19, a Honduran national unlawfully present in the United States. He was taken into custody by agents with the FBI Charlotte Field Office, Homeland Security Investigations Charlotte, U.S. Secret Service, and the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office. The operation was coordinated with FBI Indianapolis, which had been searching for Vasquez-Martinez since May 2025.
Vasquez-Martinez is wanted in Hendricks County, Indiana, on felony charges of rape and child molestation, and has prior arrests for auto theft, resisting law enforcement, and possession of marijuana. He is currently in custody in North Carolina awaiting extradition to Indiana.
ICE also confirmed the arrest of Joaquin Palacios-Juncal, a Cuban national with multiple criminal convictions, including aggravated child abuse, cocaine possession, assault with a deadly weapon, domestic abuse, harassment, and battery. According to DHS, Palacios-Juncal was previously released into the United States and had a documented criminal record spanning several years. He is currently in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
In California, Antonio Conejo-Arredondo, a 56-year-old Mexican national, was deported by ICE San Francisco following his conviction in Riverside for oral sex with an intoxicated victim. ICE officials emphasized that alien sex offenders are deportable under federal law and that efforts to remove these individuals remain a priority.
All of the individuals were apprehended or deported as part of ICE’s ongoing criminal alien enforcement operations, which target foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes and found to be in the country unlawfully. ICE officials reiterated that these removals are critical to ensuring public safety and upholding immigration law.
