ICE deported a former Salvadoran military intelligence officer last month after agents tracked him to a San Francisco suburb.
Agents arrested Jaime Avalos-Jimenez, 67, during a targeted operation in Livermore on Sept. 4, according to federal officials. He was removed to El Salvador on Sept. 18 after a court denied his petition for review.
Avalos-Jimenez served in the Salvadoran Army from 1977 to 1988 as an intelligence officer for Destacamento Militar No. 7. The unit stands accused of a sweeping pattern of abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual assault, disappearances, bombings, and illegal detention.
Federal officials said he assisted in the abuse of detainees believed to be affiliated with the Farabundo Martà National Liberation Front, the left-wing guerrilla movement that later became a political party. He also participated in Operation Fenix, a military campaign that carried out indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations suspected of supporting guerrilla combatants during the Salvadoran civil war.
Avalos-Jimenez entered the United States illegally in 1989, after the documented abuses. He subsequently filed applications for relief and benefits, which the government denied. The Department of Homeland Security said he lied on those applications about his military service and his role in human rights violations.
Officials noted that Avalos-Jimenez had no known criminal arrests during his time in the U.S.
“ICE remains committed to identifying and removing individuals who have participated in human rights abuses and who have no legal basis to remain in the United States,” ICE San Francisco Field Office Director Sergio Albarran said in a statement to The Post.
“The United States will not be a safe haven for human rights violators.”
The arrest comes as ICE intensifies operations in California, a sanctuary state that has become a focal point for the agency’s enforcement strategy. The agency is currently conducting “Operation Safe California,” a 45-day surge of increased immigration enforcement across the state.
State leadership has pushed back forcefully against the operation. Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the reported tactics, accusing President Donald Trump of “using fear and panic as a weapon.”
