ERO Houston removes 3-time deported Guatemalan fugitive with lengthy criminal history

HOUSTON - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston field office, with assistance from ERO Guatemala and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement Task Force, removed Jiuver Alexander Esquivel Florian, a 42-year-old, three-time deported Guatemalan fugitive, from the United States Aug. 26. Esquivel is wanted in Guatemala for failure to pay child support and has a lengthy criminal history in the United States.

Esquivel was flown from Alexandria, Louisiana, on a charter flight coordinated by ICE's Air Operations Unit to the La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Upon arrival, he was turned over to Guatemalan authorities.

"This foreign fugitive had repeatedly undermined the rule of law in the United States and abroad in his home country of Guatemala," said ERO Houston Field Office Director Bret A. Bradford. "By working with our domestic and international partners to repatriate him to Guatemala after holding him accountable for his crimes in the U.S., we have prevented a threat to public safety from being released into our local communities and ensured that his victims abroad will also receive justice."

Esquivel illegally entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location without inspection, admission or parole by an immigration officer. On June 21, 2005, he was convicted of battery in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and sentenced to one year in jail. On Oct. 1, 2007, he was convicted of DUI in Lilburn, Georgia. On Aug. 13, 2011, he was encountered by ERO Atlanta at the Gwinnett County (Georgia) Jail after he was arrested for violating his probation and an immigration detainer was lodged with the jail. On Aug. 25, 2011, ERO Atlanta administratively ordered Esquivel removed from the United States. On Oct. 21, 2011, the Gwinnett County Jail transferred Esquivel into ERO Atlanta custody. ICE officers removed him to Guatemala Dec. 21, 2011.

On an unknown date and at an unknown location, Esquivel illegally reentered the United States without inspection, admission or parole by an immigration officer. On Aug. 18, 2012, the U.S. Border Patrol encountered Esquivel near Abram, Texas, and he was taken into custody. That same day, the Border Patrol referred Esquivel to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas to be prosecuted for illegal entry. On Aug. 20, 2012, Esquivel was convicted of illegal entry in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and he was sentenced to 20 days in prison. On Sept. 7, 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons transferred Esquivel into ERO San Antonio custody, and his prior order of removal was reinstated. On Sept. 14, 2012, ERO San Antonio transferred Esquivel into ERO New Orleans custody at the South Louisiana Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana. On Oct. 31, 2012, ERO New Orleans removed Esquivel to Guatemala.

On an unknown date and at an unknown location, Esquivel illegally entered the U.S. for a third time. On June 8, 2023, he was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, for suspected human smuggling. On Feb. 28, 2024, Esquivel was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas of illegally transporting/harboring noncitizens, and he was sentenced to 15 months in prison. On June 18, ERO Houston encountered Esquivel at the Federal Correctional Institute in Beaumont and an immigration detainer was lodged with the facility. That same day, the Bureau of Prisons transferred Esquivel into ERO Houston custody at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, and his prior order of removal was reinstated. On June 29, ERO Houston confirmed with the Guatemalan government that Esquivel was wanted in Guatemala for failure to pay child support. On July 12, an immigration judge with the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review affirmed Esquivel's prior order of removal. ICE officers removed him to Guatemala Aug. 26.

Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to 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.

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.

As one of ICE's three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO's mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency's detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO's workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.