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ICE Arrests 400th International Fugitive Of The Year, Matching 2016 Tally

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently arrested its 400th international fugitive so far this fiscal year, nearly matching its total for all of 2016.

ICE announced on Wednesday that the agency last month arrested 43-year-old Rafael Alberto-Burgos, a national of the Dominican Republic and Spanish citizen wanted in the 1997 murder of his ex-girlfriend.

In a statement announcing the milestone arrest, ICE did not provide an updated statistic for the number of international fugitives apprehended this year. Though with four months remaining between Alberto-Burgos’ arrest on June 8 and the end of the fiscal year, the final tally will likely to blow out last year’s numbers.

According to ICE’s statistics, 406 international fugitives were arrested in FY 2016, which began Oct. 1, 2015 and ended Sept. 30, 2016.

In FY 2015, 345 arrests were made. In 2014, there were 288 arrests; 250 in 2013; 155 in 2012, and only 74 in 2011.

Alberto-Burgos entered the U.S. the same year he is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend. He was admitted under the Visa Waiver Program and stayed after his visa expired.

Spanish authorities issued an arrest warrant for Alberto-Burgos in 2000. In 2015, INTERPOL issued an international arrest warrant known as a Red Notice.

In February, INTERPOL’s office in Washington determined that Alberto-Burgos may be residing in New York City.

He was arrested without incident at his workplace in Manhattan.

“ICE works hard every day to protect the American public,” Matthew Albence, the executive associate director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, said in a statement. “Our mission to remove dangerous fugitive criminals from the United States will never cease.”

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