ICE arrests hardened criminal in upstate New York months after he was freed by Border Patrol
A Peruvian national wanted for nearly two dozen murders in his home country was released into the U.S. after illegally crossing the southern border months ago, according to reports.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the apprehension of 38-year-old Gianfranco Torres-Navarro, leader of the Peruvian gang “Los Killers,” in upstate New York this week.
Torres-Navarro was taken into custody on Wednesday in Endicott, a village in Broome County near Binghamton.
The hardened criminal entered the country illegally on May 16 near Roma, Texas, according to ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Buffalo.
He was caught that same day by U.S. Border Patrol agents, issued a Notice to Appear before a federal immigration judge in the future, and released into the interior.
“Gianfranco Torres-Navarro poses a significant threat to our communities, and we won’t allow New York to be a safe haven for dangerous noncitizens. Well done by our ERO Buffalo officers who brought this individual into custody.”
– ERO Buffalo Field Office Director Thomas Brophy pic.twitter.com/z3BGyawmKJ— ERO Buffalo (@EROBuffalo) August 16, 2024
Torres-Navarro remained on the loose in the U.S. for months — while being sought by Peruvian authorities in connection with at least 23 killings.
“Torres-Navarro allegedly fled Peru after the killing of retired police officer Cesar Quegua Herrera and the shooting of a municipal employee at a restaurant in San Miguel in March,” the Associated Press reports.
On July 8, Homeland Security Investigations alerted ERO Buffalo about Torres-Navarro being wanted in Peru.
Torres-Navarro is a “highly dangerous criminal who believed he was untouchable and responsible for 23 murders, including other gang leaders who ended up dead along with their families, all in order to increase his criminal leadership,” according to Col. Franco Moreno, head of Peru’s High Complexity Crime Investigations Division.
He was arrested during a targeted enforcement action, along with his girlfriend Mishelle Sol Ivanna Ortíz Ubillús, who is described as his “right hand” by Peruvian authorities.
Both suspects are being held in federal detention centers in New York and Pennsylvania pending court hearings and potential extradition proceedings.
Authorities continue to catch dangerous foreign criminals illegally present in the U.S., many of whom have been previously released into the country by law or immigration enforcement agencies.
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