A high-ranking MS-13 gang leader wanted internationally for homicide and terrorist affiliation has been removed from the United States following his arrest in Massachusetts earlier this year.
Officers with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston confirmed that Wilmer Alexi Garcia-Manzanarez was flown to El Salvador on November 3 and immediately transferred into the custody of local authorities.
According to federal officials, Garcia-Manzanarez was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice due to charges pending in his home country. While he faces allegations of murder and terrorism in El Salvador, his time in the United States was also marked by a series of criminal convictions, including burglary, menacing and intimidation with a weapon, property damage, and driving under the influence.
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This deportation marks the end of a decades-long cycle of illegal entries and removals for the Salvadoran national.
Records indicate Garcia-Manzanarez first entered the U.S. illegally through the Canadian border in March 2001. Though he was issued a notice to appear and subsequently ordered removed by a Department of Justice immigration judge in 2002, he remained in the country.
Between January 2007 and October 2012, immigration officials physically deported Garcia-Manzanarez to El Salvador on three separate occasions. Following each removal, he successfully re-entered the U.S. illegally.
His most recent apprehension occurred on February 18, 2024, when ICE Boston officers located and arrested him in Foxboro, Massachusetts. This arrest followed a public Red Notice issued by Interpol in January 2020.
“The removal of Wilmer Alexi Garcia-Manzanarez means that the residents of Massachusetts are exponentially safer,” said David Wesling, ICE ERO Boston acting Field Office Director. “Garcia-Manzanarez represents a significant threat to our Massachusetts communities. Aside from his significant criminal history in the U.S., authorities in his home country wanted him to face charges for homicide and terrorist affiliation related to gang membership.”
The operation was coordinated through the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force, a collaboration between ICE ERO Boston, legal advisors, and counterparts in El Salvador.
Officials remind the public that suspicious activity or information regarding criminal threats can be reported to the DHS tip line at 866-347-2423.
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