Crime
From the border to Baltimore: ICE agents arrest violent fugitives illegally in US
ICE-ERO Baltimore Fugitive Operations agents arrested and removed 19-year-old Guatemalan national Henry Argueta-Tobar, who was illegally in the country and convicted of raping a Maryland resident.
From The Center Square
By
Columbian arms trafficker arrested in college town of College Park, Maryland
After illegally entering the country at the southwest border and being released by Border Patrol agents, violent criminals continue to be arrested thousands of miles north near Baltimore.
One of them was a 19-year-old Guatemalan national in the country illegally convicted of raping a Maryland resident.
Henry Argueta-Tobar illegally entered the country in El Paso, Texas, on May 21, 2019, as an unaccompanied minor. Under the Trump and other administrations, federal policy is to release into the country those claiming to be minors. Border Patrol agents transferred his custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which released him “on an order of recognizance.”
By Dec. 23, 2023, he was arrested by the Charles County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland and charged with rape in the second degree. ICE lodged a detainer request with the Charles County Detention Center in La Plata, Maryland, which refused to comply and instead released him.
In February, a federal judge ordered him to be removed to Guatemala. In July, a Charles County court convicted him of rape and sentenced him to 20 years in prison but then suspended all but 190 days of his prison sentence.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Baltimore Fugitive Operations agents then arrested him in Waldorf, Maryland.
“After unlawfully entering our country, Henry Argueta-Tobar made his way to Maryland and victimized one of our residents,” ICE ERO Baltimore acting Deputy Field Office Director Vernon Liggins said. “We could not allow him to continue to threaten our communities.”
His case represents a common pattern The Center Square has reported: ICE lodges an immigration detainer with a local jurisdiction, which denies the request and releases the offender. Not soon after, another jurisdiction arrests the offender for allegedly committing another crime. The pattern continues until ICE detains and removes the offender.
Last month, ICE-ERO Baltimore agents also apprehended a validated leader of the Las Colinas criminal organization based in Santa Marta, Colombia. The 29-year-old fugitive was wanted by Columbian authorities on homicide, arms trafficking and aggravated theft charges. He was hiding out in a residence in College Park, Maryland, home to the University of Maryland, with an undergraduate and graduate enrollment of over 40,000.
The Columbian fugitive “attempted to hide from justice in Maryland, and we simply cannot allow that to happen,” Liggins said. “Our officers are the best in the world at finding people who don’t want to be found, and we will not allow our Maryland communities to become safe havens for the world’s bad actors.”
He illegally entered the U.S. near San Ysidro, California, and was apprehended by Border Patrol agents on Sept. 14, 2023. Instead of vetting and identifying him as a wanted arms trafficker, he was given a notice to appear before an immigration judge and transferred into ICE-ERO San Diego custody. Instead of vetting and identifying him as a wanted arms trafficker, ICE agents released him “on recognizance.”
Colombian authorities were “actively seeking custody of the fugitive, citing charges of arms trafficking, aggravated theft and homicide,” ICE said.
It would take 10 months for ICE-ERO Baltimore agents to learn that he was illegally living in Maryland. He was arrested on July 31 “at his residence in College Park” and remains in ICE custody.
ICE-ERO Baltimore agents also recently arrested a Salvadoran who fled to the U.S. to avoid a prison sentence “stemming from his conviction for attempted aggravated femicide and culpable injury.” The 57-year-old Salvadoran fugitive was arrested June 20 near his residence in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He remains in ICE custody.
His criminal record predates his illegal entry into the U.S. He was arrested and charged by Salvadoran authorities in February 2022, convicted by a court in June 2023 and sentenced to 21 years in prison. He then fled the country and illegally entered the U.S. near Rio Grande, Texas. He was then arrested by Border Patrol agents on July 1, 2023, and transferred into ICE. Roughly one month later, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services gave him a notice to appear before an immigration judge and ICE released him.
Due to a failed vetting system, Border Patrol, ICE and USCIS “had no knowledge of the Salvadoran national’s conviction at the time of their interactions with him,” ICE claims. It would take another year for ICE agents to learn of his whereabouts in Maryland.
In another case, Border Patrol agents arrested a Columbian fugitive near San Luis, Arizona, after he illegally entered the U.S. and also released him. He had a criminal record: arrested and charged with attempted aggravated homicide and sentenced to 17 years in prison. He also fled to the U.S. to avoid going to prison.
Instead of being vetted and processed for removal, he was enrolled in a Biden-Harris “Alternatives to Detention” program. Within less than a month, he violated the program terms and was removed from the country in December 2023. He illegally reentered at an unknown date, time and location, avoiding capture as one of at least two million gotaways under the Biden-Harris administration. In June, ICE agents became aware that he was illegally living in Laurel, Maryland, and arrested him. He remains in ICE custody.
An extensive pattern exists for similar ICE arrests nationwide.
2025 Federal Election
‘Sadistic’ Canadian murderer claiming to be woman denied transfer to female prison
From LifeSiteNews
The logical decision to house the male murderer with men flies in the face of the Liberal Party’s official stance, which is to incarcerate prisoners according to their ‘self-identified’ gender.
A Canadian man who butchered his family and now claims to be a woman will not be allowed to transfer to a female prison.
On April 8, Correctional Services Canada (CSC) announced that Mohamad Al Ballouz, who brutally murdered his wife and two children, will be sent to a men’s prison, despite claiming to be a woman, according to CTV News.
“When there are overriding health and safety concerns, the request is denied and alternatives are put in place to meet the offender’s gender‑related needs at the institution where they are incarcerated,” the CSC statement reads.
Following an assessment of Al Ballouz request, CSC confirmed that he “will be incarcerated in a men’s institution.”
On December 16, Al Ballouz, a 38-year-old from Quebec, was found guilty second-degree murder of his wife Synthia Bussières, first-degree murder of five-year-old Eliam and two-year-old Zac, and one count of attempted arson.
Crown prosecutor Éric Nadeau revealed that the murder took place in September 2022 when Al Ballouz slaughtered his family at their Brossard apartment. He stabbed his wife 23 times before suffocated his children and trying to set the apartment on fire. He then ingested windshield washer fluid, which is believed to have been a suicide attempt.
During the trial, Quebec Superior Justice Eric Downs described Al Ballouz, as having a “sadistic character” and being “deeply narcissistic.” He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Throughout the trial, Al Ballouz, a biological male, claimed to be a woman and demanded that he be referred to as “Levana,” a change which was made after he was charged for his crimes. Notably, the Canadian Broadcasting Report’s (CBC’s) report of the case refers to the convicted murder as “she” and uses his fake name.
Following his sentencing, the murderer requested to be sent to the Joliette Institution for Women; however, Downs responded that is a decision for Correctional Service Canada.
Currently under the Liberal Party, the policy is to place prisoners according to their “self-identified” gender, not according to biology. As a result, male rapists and murderers can be sent to prison with females.
However, Al Ballouz’s case caused an uproar on social media as many pointed out that putting the murderer in a women’s prison would pose a danger to female inmates.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has condemned the Liberal policy and promised that he would end this practice if elected.
“Surreal: A man who killed his wife and two kids now claims he is a woman to go to a female prison,” he wrote in a December 22 post on X.
“I can’t believe I have to say this: but when I’m PM, there will be no male prisoners in female jails,” Poilievre continued. “Period.”
Business
Canadian Police Raid Sophisticated Vancouver Fentanyl Labs, But Insist Millions of Pills Not Destined for U.S.
Sam Cooper
Mounties say labs outfitted with high-grade chemistry equipment and a trained chemist reveal transnational crime groups are advancing in technical sophistication and drug production capacity
Amid a growing trade war between Washington and Beijing, Canada—targeted alongside Mexico and China for special tariffs related to Chinese fentanyl supply chains—has dismantled a sophisticated network of fentanyl labs across British Columbia and arrested an academic lab chemist, the RCMP said Thursday.
At a press conference in Vancouver, senior investigators stood behind seized lab equipment and fentanyl supplies, telling reporters the operation had prevented millions of potentially lethal pills from reaching the streets.
“This interdiction has prevented several million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl from being produced and distributed across Canada,” said Cpl. Arash Seyed. But the presence of commercial-grade laboratory equipment at each of the sites—paired with the arrest of a suspect believed to have formal training in chemistry—signals an evolution in the capabilities of organized crime networks, with “progressively enhanced scientific and technical expertise among transnational organized crime groups involved in the production and distribution of illicit drugs,” Seyed added.
This investigation is ongoing, while the seized drugs, precursor chemicals, and other evidence continue to be processed, police said.
Recent Canadian data confirms the country has become an exporter of fentanyl, and experts identify British Columbia as the epicenter of clandestine labs supplied by Chinese precursors and linked to Mexican cartel distributors upstream.
In a statement that appears politically responsive to the evolving Trump trade threats, Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said, “There continues to be no evidence, in this case and others, that these labs are producing fentanyl for exportation into the United States.”
In late March, during coordinated raids across the suburban municipalities of Pitt Meadows, Mission, Aldergrove, Langley, and Richmond, investigators took down three clandestine fentanyl production sites.
The labs were described by the RCMP as “equipped with specialized chemical processing equipment often found in academic and professional research facilities.” Photos released by authorities show stainless steel reaction vessels, industrial filters, and what appear to be commercial-scale tablet presses and drying trays—pointing to mass production capabilities.
The takedown comes as Canada finds itself in the crosshairs of intensifying geopolitical tension.
Fentanyl remains the leading cause of drug-related deaths in Canada, with toxic supply chains increasingly linked to hybrid transnational networks involving Chinese chemical brokers and domestic Canadian producers.
RCMP said the sprawling B.C. lab probe was launched in the summer of 2023, with teams initiating an investigation into the importation of unregulated chemicals and commercial laboratory equipment that could be used for synthesizing illicit drugs including fentanyl, MDMA, and GHB.
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