In a decisive move emphasizing the U.S. government’s commitment to expelling violent offenders, federal immigration officials have apprehended two undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes against children. The arrests took place in separate operations in New Jersey and Texas.
According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Gladys Leticia Bustamente-Rios from Honduras and Maria Alejandra Gamarro-Quinonez from Guatemala. Both women are currently being held in custody.
Bustamente-Rios had been previously expelled from the United States and was legally barred from returning. Meanwhile, Gamarro-Quinonez was subject to a final deportation order.
“These criminal illegal aliens caused harm to innocent children, who are the most defenseless in our society,” stated ICE Director Todd M. Lyons. “ICE is committed to ensuring these offenders can never harm anyone again. Our mission is to protect public safety and eliminate dangerous threats from this country, and we will continue our efforts until our communities are shielded from such heinous individuals.”
ICE agents arrested Gladys Leticia Bustamente-Rios, a Honduran national who had been deported and prohibited from reentering the United States.
The DHS reported that Bustamente-Rios illegally entered the U.S. in 1997. In the same year, she faced charges of assault and a family-related offense, resulting in a five-year prison sentence.
An immigration judge ordered her removed on Aug. 17, 1998, prohibiting her from ever reentering the U.S. She was deported on July 30, 1999.
She later committed a felony offense by reentering the country illegally.
Maria Alejandra Gamarro-Quinonez, of Guatemala, was arrested by ICE after violating her visa and facing child endangerment charges. (Department of Homeland Security)
Last month, ICE officers located and arrested Bustamente-Rios at her residence, and she remains in ICE custody pending her removal.
Federal officials detailed a separate case involving Gamarro-Quinonez, whose path into the U.S. unfolded differently.
Gamarro-Quinonez originally entered the U.S. legally on a visitor visa, though she failed to leave by April 27, 2007, as required by her visa conditions.
ICE arrested two women convicted of child-related crimes during coordinated operations in New Jersey and Texas. (Fox News)
ICE encountered Gamarro-Quinonez on Aug. 14, 2023 after she was arrested and booked into the New Jersey Sussex County Jail for theft.
She was released after posting $2,000 and was given a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge.
An immigration judge in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, ordered her removed on April 1, 2025. ICE arrested her on Nov. 10 in Graham, Texas, where she had reported for probation after a judge deferred adjudication in her child endangerment and abandonment case, the DHS said.
Like Bustamente-Rios, the DHS said Gamarro-Quinonez will remain in ICE custody pending her removal.
