Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Philadelphia have deported a 75-year-old man, Alvarado Benitez, to El Salvador. Benitez is wanted in El Salvador for his involvement in death squad killings during the country's civil war.
The death squad members are accused of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering five civilians in the village of San Andrés in eastern El Salvador in April 1981. These death squads were right-wing paramilitary groups opposing Marxist–Leninist guerrilla forces, particularly the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMNL), during the civil war that lasted over 12 years starting in October 1979.
ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Philadelphia, along with other agencies, facilitated Benitez's deportation to El Salvador to face charges related to the atrocities committed during the civil war.
ICE's Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC) played a crucial role in investigating and supporting Benitez's return to Salvadoran authorities. Established in 2008, HRVWCC focuses on identifying, tracking, and prosecuting human rights abusers to bring them to justice.
In June 2023, HSI and ERO in Baltimore arrested Benitez for being present in the U.S. without inspection. He was transferred to ERO Philadelphia for deportation proceedings, resulting in an order of removal to El Salvador by an immigration judge. Benitez's deportation became administratively final on Feb. 9.
ERO conducts removals of individuals without lawful status in the U.S. based on immigration judges' decisions. These judges, under the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), evaluate each case to determine if a non-citizen is subject to removal or eligible for relief from deportation.
