News Americas, DALLAS, TX, Mon. Dec. 1, 2014: A Salvadoran woman, who is wanted in her home country for aggravated murder and other crimes, has deported back to her country where she was turned over to law enforcement authorities there.
Margarita Del Carmen Orellana Rivas, 25, was removed to El Salvador on Nov. 26 via government charter flight from Dallas and was turned over to officials from El Salvador’s Policia Nacional Civil (PNC).
Orellana Rivas is an associate of the violent street gang MS-13. In addition to aggravated murder, she is also wanted for “crimes of solicitation and conspiracy in the crime of aggravated murder, aggravated murder as co-conspirator, and illegal gatherings.”
Orellana-Rivas assisted MS-13 gang members with the murders of Patricia Beatriz Avalos-Caceres, Orlando Moran-Alvarado and Luis Osmaro Menjivar-Landaverde. Orellana-Rivas lured Avalos-Caceres and her baby to a predetermined location where Avalos-Caceres was beaten and ultimately strangled to death. Avalos-Caceres was targeted after serving as a witness in a case against fellow gang members. Her baby was unharmed.
Orellana entered the United States near Hidalgo, Texas, Aug. 15, 2014 without being admitted or paroled. Border Patrol agents arrested Orellana shortly after she entered the United States. They identified Orellana as a citizen of El Salvador who has an outstanding warrant of arrest for aggravated murder as an accomplice and illegal gatherings in El Salvador based on a warrant from a Salvadoran court issued July 19, 2012. Border Patrol agents also discovered that Orellana is a member of the MS-13 street gang.
On Oct. 21, 2014, a federal immigration judge in Dallas, Texas, ordered Orellana deported to El Salvador. Orellana waived her right to appeal this decision.
The deportation was conducted by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Dallas, with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Border Patrol.
“By removing criminal aliens to their countries of origin, ICE also removes the threat they pose to public safety in local U.S. communities,” said Simona L. Flores, field office director of ERO Dallas. “At the same time, these removals ensure that aliens who commit crimes abroad do not use the United States as a safe haven from justice in their home countries.”
