Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Monday that it has arrested an undocumented immigrant wanted on suspicion of murder in Colombia.

Authorities arrested the Colombian national, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2011, on Dec. 27, according to ICE. SaidLocal police in New Jersey previously arrested the illegal alien on charges of simple assault and making terroristic threats, but it is unclear why ICE did not take him into custody at the time. The Daily Caller News Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Related: Exclusive: Venezuelan gang members accused of kidnapping, strangling Florida man to death were in the U.S. illegally)

According to ICE, the individual fled the country in 2018 after failing to return from a three-day furlough at the end of his sentence in Colombia.

“This is clearly a case of an individual with a very dangerous criminal history who poses a threat to the community,” John Tsokaris, director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Newark Field Office, said in a statement Monday.

“I would like to thank the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations, New York/Newark, for their assistance in the investigation that led to the arrest of the subject, above and beyond the dedication of our personnel,” Tsokaris said.

The person will remain in ICE custody pending deportation proceedings, the agency said.

ICE made more than 2,200 criminal arrests in fiscal year 2022, approximately 2,300 in fiscal year 2021, and approximately 3,000 criminal arrests in fiscal year 2023. according to For government agency statistics.

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