NEW ORLEANS — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a Salvadoran national convicted of robbery and kidnapping after his release from an Alabama state prison.
Juan Misael Canales-Garcia, 52, was taken into ICE custody on Jan. 23 following his release from the Alabama Department of Corrections, where he had been serving a sentence for violent crimes.
Canales-Garcia originally entered the United States illegally at an unknown time and location. An immigration judge ordered his removal on March 30, 1992, but he subsequently reentered the country and was removed three additional times. He was arrested by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 13, 2005, and later sentenced to five years for first-degree kidnapping and 21 years for first-degree robbery.
ICE filed an immigration detainer with the Alabama Department of Corrections on Dec. 10, 2024, in preparation for his release. After his recent arrest, ICE reinstated his prior order of removal, and he will remain in custody pending deportation to El Salvador.