U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers apprehended a convicted murderer and gang member in Chicago’s southwest suburbs this week, days after Illinois prison officials released him under the state’s sanctuary policies, according to ICE.
Aldo Salazar Bahena, 37, was arrested by ICE authorities on Monday in northwest suburban Elgin as part of Operation Midway Blitz, a Chicago-area enforcement initiative targeting unauthorized immigrants with criminal records.
Salazar, a member of the Larazo street gang, was found guilty in 2007 of killing 21-year-old Fernando Diaz Jr. He was freed from Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill on Friday after nearly two decades there.
According to ICE, prison officials refused to honor a federal immigration detainer, enabling Salazar to go free for three days until agents apprehended him
“Sanctuary policies, by design, protect criminals — and in this case, a murderer — over the safety of American communities,” acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said in a statement. “Luckily, ICE was there to effectuate his lawful arrest and removal from the streets.”
Salazar and many other gang members, according to ICE, murdered Diaz in September 2005 because he reportedly disrespected their gang. Diaz was assaulted and left on a trail near the Fox River. Salazar was apprehended nine days later and condemned to twenty years in jail in 2007.
Salazar became a lawful permanent resident of the United States in 1998, although he never obtained citizenship. He lost that status in 2016 after an immigration judge ordered his deportation.
“Salazar was locked away in one of Illinois’ maximum-security prisons for two decades for murder, but the state saw fit to release him despite the fact that he had a final order of removal from a Department of Justice immigration judge dated Sept. 26, 2016,” said Lyons.
Operation Midway Blitz, which began this month, is named after Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old woman who died in January in a crash involving a Guatemalan migrant who was unlawfully in the country. The campaign is part of President Trump’s larger push to increase deportations and immigration-related arrests.