BALTIMORE — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Javier Zeledon Reyes, a 56-year-old Nicaraguan citizen, in Hyattsville on March 6 after he admitted during immigration proceedings to massacring approximately 20 people in the 1990s while serving in the Nicaraguan army.
ICE officials said Zeledon also acknowledged aiding a Mexican drug cartel after leaving Nicaragua.
“This arrest highlights exactly why ICE is vital to the safety of our nation,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Baltimore acting Field Office Director Matthew Elliston. “His presence in the United States was a direct threat to public safety.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection had previously taken Zeledon into custody at the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas, on March 29, 2023, and issued him a notice to appear in immigration court.
During a March 5 hearing before the Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review, Zeledon admitted to serving in the Nicaraguan military from 1995 to 1996 and firing an AK-47 into a crowd, killing about 20 civilians.
He also told the court he later relocated to Mexico and provided material support to a cartel.
The immigration judge ordered Zeledon’s removal from the United States.
A Nicaraguan man who admitted to war crimes and cartel ties has been arrested and ordered deported after living in the U.S. illegally.