A migrant prison gang member who has illegally entered the United States ten times and is wanted for murder in Mexico has been deported, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Friday.
Humberto Romero Avila, 45, a “foreign fugitive” according to ICE, entered the country illegally in 2002 and is wanted in Mexico in connection with the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man in 2007.
In addition to violating immigration laws, Avila has been convicted of larceny, four DWIs, and several other criminal offenses while illegally roaming the streets of the United States, according to ICE.
Avila, a member of the Paisas prison gang, was arrested in March 2024 following his most recent felony DWI arrest in Shelby County, Texas. ICE filed an immigration detainer with the jail and forwarded his case for prosecution for illegal reentry.
While conducting routine background checks, ICE was notified by the US Embassy in Mexico that Avila was wanted for allegedly murdering Mexican national Geovany Uriel Prado Morales in Celaya, Guanajuato, ICE stated.
On January 28, Avila was convicted of illegal reentry in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and sentenced to time served. On January 31, the Bureau of Prisons transferred Avila to ICE custody, and his prior order of removal was reinstated. He was subsequently deported.
“For nearly a quarter of a century, this transnational gang member has blatantly disregarded our nation’s immigration and criminal laws, putting the lives of everyone he is encountered in danger,” said Bret Bradford, director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations’ Houston field office.
“On top of that, he is accused of brutally shooting an innocent 22-year-old man in Mexico in 2007. In the more than 30 years I have worked in immigration enforcement, I do not think I have ever seen a more heinous offender or a better demonstration of why immigration enforcement is so important to public safety.”
Bradford believes that Avila’s removal from the country has made American streets safer.
He will no longer be free to terrorize the public and will face justice for his alleged role in that heinous crime that occurred 18 years ago,” Bradford stated.
Avila first illegally entered the United States on March 22, 2002. He then crossed the border three more times that year, entering illegally for the fifth time in March 2005.
On both occasions, he was apprehended by Border Patrol and voluntarily returned to Mexico the same day.
He illegally entered the United States for the sixth time on an unknown date and location, and was apprehended on August 3, 2012, at the Nacogdoches County Jail in Nacogdoches, a city in East Texas, after being arrested for driving under the influence.
He was deported later that month and returned illegally for the seventh time on an unknown date and location before being imprisoned at Shelby County Jail in Center on August 31, 2013, following another DWI and larceny arrest. ICE issued an immigration detainer, and he was deported to Mexico in January 2014.
He illegally re-entered in February 2014 before being deported the same month.
Avila illegally entered the United States for the ninth time in March 2014, and the Border Patrol apprehended him immediately. He was then convicted of illegal entry and sentenced to 150 days in prison.
Following his release from prison in August 2014, Romero was transferred to ICE custody and deported to Mexico once more.
The last time he illegally entered the United States is unknown, and the gang member was not seen again until March 22, 2024, when he was arrested for a fourth DWI in Shelby County.
On January 31, the Bureau of Prisons transferred Avila to ICE custody, and his prior order of removal was reinstated.
Avila’s deportation comes as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on criminal illegal migrants.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, there were 11,791 interior ICE arrests from Jan. 20 to Feb. 8, up from 4,969 during the same period in 2024, representing a 137% increase.
