Around New England

Federal Authorities Deport Guatemalan Illegal Immigrant Wanted For Assaulting Public Official Back Home

September 12, 2024

Federal immigration officers in Boston have sent an illegal immigrant wanted for serious crimes back to Guatemala.

Victor Francisco Lopez-Padilla, a fugitive from Guatemala, was removed from the United States on July 22 and handed over to authorities in his home country. He is wanted there for attacking a public official, illegally transporting firearms, and using fake license plates, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations.

“Victor Francisco Lopez-Padilla unlawfully came to the United States in an apparent attempt to escape justice in his home country, and then proceeded to break the law here,” said Todd Lyons, Boston field office director, in an ICE press release. “Our officers returned him to Guatemalan authorities to face the law in his native land.”

Lopez was first caught by U.S. Border Patrol on June 20, 2019, after illegally crossing the border near San Luis, Arizona. He was told to appear before an immigration judge but was released that same day. In December 2019, a judge ordered him to be removed from the United States.

In September 2022, Guatemalan authorities issued a warrant for Lopez’s arrest for charges related to fake license plates, illegal firearms, and assaulting a public official.

On June 29, 2023, a federal grand jury in Vermont indicted Lopez for human smuggling. Federal immigration officers arrested him in New Jersey in August 2023.

Federal immigration authorities tied Lopez to a human smuggling operation based in Trenton, New Jersey, according to court documents. Immigration officers got warrants to monitor WhatsApp accounts of members of the suspected operation and used license plate readers to track the movements of a Ford Explorer they suspected was used in multiple smuggling incidents at the United States-Canada border, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Vermont by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in June 2023.

A remotely operated camera in a rural area of the border in Franklin, Vermont, a small town of about 1,300 people in the northwest part of the state that borders Quebec, picked up three men with backpacks entering the United States at about 8:17 p.m. June 8, 2023, according to the affidavit. Border Patrol officers tracked the Ford Explorer to a suspected meeting place, where several men on foot got into the vehicle.

Officers later stopped the vehicle and found six men in it, the affidavit states. Two were smugglers:  The driver, who was a lawful resident of the United States from Guatemala; and a man in the passenger seat, also from Guatemala but without legal status and awaiting a hearing before a federal immigration judge, who had a New Jersey identification card. The other four were attempting to enter the country illegally; they told officers they had paid $3,000 up front and expected to pay another $3,000 when they reached New Jersey.

The driver identified the coordinator of the smuggling operation as “Paco Lopez.” The driver had a contact in his cell phone for “Loco Paco,” which in English means “Crazy Paco.”

Lopez pled guilty to human smuggling in July 2023 and was sentenced to time served. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement then took custody of him and, after confirming that Guatemalan authorities wanted him, deported him back to Guatemala on July 22, 2024.

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