Mexican Murderer Deported for Fifth Time

A convicted murderer who had been deported from the United States four times has been arrested in Texas after unlawfully reentering the country for a fifth time, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said.
Maribel Martinez Garcia, a 40-year-old Mexican national who was convicted of murder in 2008, was taken into custody by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers at a residence in North Houston on Thursday morning.
The woman was convicted of murder in Alabama. After serving her sentence, she illegally crossed the U.S. border, only to be deported multiple times between 2013 and 2018.
At the time of her arrest, the suspect was in possession of a counterfeit social security card and a lawful permanent resident card.
“This arrest is just another example of the critical public safety function that ICE ERO serves in our local communities while enforcing our nation’s immigration laws,” said ERO Houston Field Office Director Bret A. Bradford.
“Thanks to hypervigilance and outstanding teamwork between ERO Houston and ERO New Orleans, we were able to quickly locate this convicted murderer who has repeatedly violated our nation’s immigration laws and safely take her into custody before she could hurt anyone else.”
Authorities stated that it is unknown when Martinez first illegally entered the U.S., but she was arrested by the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Houston on April 13, 2000.
On August 3, 2000, an immigration judge from the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review ordered Martinez to be removed from Mexico.
Law enforcement officials removed her from the U.S. to Mexico in September 2000.
Martinez illegally entered the country multiple times after her initial deportation, with details about her entries and locations remaining unknown.
On January 1, 2004, she was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol near Progreso, Texas, and voluntarily returned to Mexico.
Just days later, on January 10, 2004, she again illegally crossed the border and was encountered by the U.S. Border Patrol near Progreso, leading to another voluntary return to Mexico.
On January 1, 2007, Martinez was arrested for capital murder. She was later convicted of a lesser charge of murder on March 4, 2008, and sentenced to 20 years in prison, with 17 years of the sentence suspended.
ICE’s ERO encountered Martinez in New Orleans on February 8, 2010, at the Alabama State Probation and Parole Office in Birmingham, and she was taken into custody.
ICE reinstated her prior order of removal and referred her for prosecution for illegal reentry.
On August 6, 2010, she was convicted of illegal reentry and sentenced to six months in prison. Martinez was deported to Mexico on August 19, 2010. Despite these repeated deportations, Martinez illegally reentered the United States for a fourth time at an unknown date and location.
Following a tip from ERO New Orleans, officers located her in North Houston and took her into custody.
Martinez was transported to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas.
“This case demonstrates the impact ERO has on public safety every day, and now this dangerous, repetitive criminal is off our streets,” said ERO New Orleans Field Office Director Mellissa Harper. “ERO will continue to focus on our mission of removing criminal noncitizens from our communities.”
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