US Deports Salvadoran Soldier Who Admitted to Torture

MIAMI, FL – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deported a former Salvadoran soldier on Friday who admitted to torturing suspected guerrillas. Forty-nine-year-old Jose Francisco Grijalva Monroy was turned over to immigration authorities in El Salvador. He had been living in the quaint Florida fishing town of Apalachicola when he was arrested earlier this year.

According to court documents, the El Salvadoran citizen, testified that as a soldier in the Salvadoran army, he tortured suspected guerrillas by hanging them by their hands from trees and slapping their chests with his bare hands. Monroy also admitted that he tied suspected guerrillas to the back of an army Jeep and dragged them on the road until their skin came off. (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami Patch.)

An ICE spokesperson said that Monroy had been held in Miami's Krome Detention Center for a time. He was prosecuted in Orlando.

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“ICE is working diligently to ensure our nation does not become a safe haven for human rights violators," said Marc J. Moore, field office director for the Miami Field Office of ERO.

An immigration judge with the Executive Office for Immigration Review ordered Monroy removed to El Salvador. His appeal was subsequently dismissed by the Board of Immigration Review.

This case was litigated by ICE’s Orlando Office of Chief Counsel with the support of the Human Rights Law Section and the Immigration Law and Practice Division and was supported by ICE’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC).

ICE has arrested more than 380 people for alleged human rights-related violations since 2003 under various criminal and immigration statutes. During that same period, ICE obtained deported 785 known or suspected human rights violators from the United States. In addition, the agency, said it facilitated the departure of an another 108 such individuals from the United States.

"Currently, HSI has more than 160 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,750 leads and removals cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries," ICE officials said. "Since 2003, the HRVWCC has issued more than 70,400 lookouts for individuals from more than 110 countries and stopped 213 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S."

If you suspect a foreign national of human rights abuse or war crimes, you can call ICE at 866-DHS-2423 (1-866-347-2423). Callers may remain anonymous. To learn more about the assistance available to victims in these cases, the public should contact ICE’s confidential victim-witness toll-free number at 866-872-4973.

Photo of Jose Francisco Grijalva Monroy courtesy of ICE