Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested a Salvadoran man Thursday night in Arlington, Texas, who was wanted for capital murder.
Jonathan Alexander Gonzalez-Rosales, 25, was in the U.S. illegally and an active member of the 18th Street Gang, a transnational criminal organization.
Gonzalez-Rosales was wanted for the murder of Franklin Alexander Mercado, 17. Mercado’s body was discovered Jan. 22, 2020, in the 300 block of N. Prairie Creek Road in Dallas, Texas with multiple stab wounds. A Dallas County magistrate judge issued an arrest warrant for Gonzalez-Rosales April 1, 2020, for capital murder.
ERO officers previously encountered Gonzalez-Rosales Dec. 10, 2017, at a magistrate court in San Antonio, Texas, and lodged an immigration detainer. The following day, ERO San Antonio issued Gonzalez-Rosales a Notice to Appear, and on Feb. 7, 2018, an immigration judge granted him bond.
He was released from ICE custody Feb. 22, 2018, after posting bond.
Gonzalez-Rosales did not appear for his July 16, 2018 immigration court hearing, and an immigration judge in San Antonio ordered him removed in absentia to El Salvador. Gonzalez-Rosales remained an immigration fugitive until his most recent arrest by ERO.
ERO Dallas officers arrested Gonzalez-Rosales April 2, 2020, in Arlington, Texas, and transported him to the Bedford City Jail in Bedford, Texas.
On April 3, 2020, ERO Dallas processed Gonzalez-Rosales, who will remain in ICE custody until he is transferred to the Dallas County Jail to face the pending capital murder charges.
