Port Clinton, Ohio - U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to Detroit Sector arrested a citizen of Mexico for being present in the United States after a prior removal.

On July 24, Border Patrol agents from the Sandusky Bay station had placed an immigration detainer on Jose Arias-Garcia, who was in the custody of Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, after he was arrested by the Toledo Police Department after a domestic dispute. The Border Patrol was notified by the Sheriff’s Office on August 12 that Arias was being released from custody. Agents interviewed him at the Lucas County Jail, and he admitted to being in the United States illegally and that he did not have any documents allowing him to be or remain in the United States.

He was taken to the Border Patrol station in Port Clinton, where fingerprint processing and record checks revealed he had a criminal record and had been ordered removed from the United States by an immigration judge. He was originally ordered removed from the United States in July 2012, and subsequently had that ordered reinstated and was removed again in August 2014.

Record checks revealed that Arias has multiple prior convictions in Georgia for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol between 2008 and 2011. In addition, he was convicted in 2012 of one count of Family Violence and one count of Battery.

“This arrest resulted from information sharing between our law enforcement partners in the area,” said Patrol Agent in Charge Matthew Grupe. “Because of this, we are able to remove a recidivist criminal from the community.”

Arias was turned over to the custody of ICE/ERO and is being held pending Reinstatement of Prior Order of Removal. Anyone with information on suspicious activity is asked to call the Detroit Sector Border Patrol BorderWatch telephone number toll-free at 800-537-3220.