A federal immigration enforcement office based in St. Paul has removed an illegal immigrant who was wanted in Mexico for rape of a minor.
On July 18, Andres Palacios Pizano, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant, was transferred to Mexican authorities after being picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) St. Paul Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) office. A “recidivist offender of U.S. immigration law,” Pizano has been removed from the United States by ICE six times since 2017.
Federal officials had previously removed Pizano from the United States in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.
According to ICE, Pizano most recently crossed into the United States some time after June 23, 2023. The Mexican citizen was hiding out in North Dakota and various locations throughout the United States. Eventually, the Enforcement and Removal Operations office in St. Paul picked Pizano up from a detention center in North Dakota.
After discovering the illegal immigrant was wanted in Mexico for rape of a minor, immigration authorities brought Pizano from St. Paul to Brownsville, Texas. From there, Pizano was subsequently handed over to Mexican authorities.
In a statement, the ERO St. Paul Field Director Peter Berg said Pizano “poses a significant threat, and we won’t allow our communities to be safe havens for noncitizens like him. ERO St. Paul will continue to collaborate with local, state, and international law enforcement agencies to remove dangerous individuals and ensure public safety.”
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations units arrested over 70,000 noncitizens with criminal histories in fiscal year 2023. Those noncitizens “had 290,178 associated charges and convictions with an average of four per individual.” The associated charges and convictions included offenses such as homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, weapons offenses, and assaults.
The ERO has 25 domestic field offices across the country. According to ICE, “ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement.”
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
