A Mexican national is awaiting extradition to Sonora after recently being taken into custody by federal agents in Tucson on a fugitive extradition warrant involving a hit-and-run in Hermosillo, Sonora that severely injured a woman and two young children earlier this year.
Nathan Karim Melendez has been wanted by Mexican authorities since March 5 when he was named as the suspected driver of a car that ran over a 30-year-old woman, her five-year-old daughter, and two-year-old nephew.
All three victims suffered life-threatening injuries, for which the children continue to receive treatment.
Melendez, 25, became the subject of an international arrest warrant in April. He was taken into custody in Tucson on June 15 by agents of the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
An ICE spokesperson says Melendez will remains in federal custody pending the outcome of an upcoming immigration hearing. It has not been made public when or where Melendez entered the U.S., but his parents have been investigated in Mexico for possibly aiding and abetting their son’s travel to Arizona after the accident.
The arrest of Melendez by ICE-ERO agents has received national news coverage across Mexico, prompting comments by Sonora Gov. Alfonso Durazo Montano, along with the Prosecutor’s Office in Sonora and others.
It has also drawn attention in the U.S. to the often overlooked ERO and the agency’s more than 7,700 law enforcement and support personnel who have the principal federal law enforcement authority over domestic immigration enforcement.
“Alleged fugitives do not have a right to avoid justice in their home country by hiding out in our communities,” said ERO Phoenix Field Office Director John E. Cantu. “ERO Phoenix is strongly committed to apprehending and removing those who pose a real threat to the safety and security of the residents of our community. We cannot tolerate their presence here.”
Data released by Cantu’s office for Fiscal Year 2022 shows ERO arrested 46,396 noncitizens who had a combined 198,498 associated criminal charges and/or convictions.
This included persons awaiting trial or already convicted in other countries or the U.S. of homicide-related offenses, assault offenses, sexual assault offenses, kidnapping offenses, and weapons offenses.