Suspect in killings of 9 Americans returned to Mexico
ERO El Paso deportation officers remove a Mexican national wanted for organized crime in his home country on Oct. 13, 2023 at an international bridge between El Paso and Juarez. Gustavo Ivan Hernandez-Cabral, 24, was allegedly involved in the 2019 massacre of 9 U.S. citizens in Sonora, Mexico. (ICE)
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EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — The U.S. has returned to Mexico a man wanted in connection with the 2019 killings of nine Americans in the border state of Sonora.
Federal agents arrested 24-year-old Gustavo Ivan Hernandez-Cabral on Sept. 4 at a motel in Albuquerque.
He was handed over to Mexican authorities on Oct. 13 at one of the international bridges in Downtown El Paso.
Hernandez-Cabral had crossed the border illegally into Santa Teresa, New Mexico, three times in July, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and each time was processed for voluntary return and repatriated to Mexico.
Hernandez-Cabral again entered the U.S. illegally on Aug. 5 after Homeland Security Investigations learned that he was illegally residing in Central New Mexico, where agents tracked him down.
The U.S. District Court in the District of New Mexico convicted of illegal entry, and on Oct. 4, after spending a month at the El Paso Processing Center, an immigration judge ordered Hernandez-Cabral removed from the United States to Mexico.
On Nov. 4, 2019, gunmen ambushed three women and six children who were members of the LeBaron, Langford, and Johnson families associated with the independent Mormon settlement of LeBaron, Chihuahua.
The dead, all Americans, included adults Rhonita Miller, 30; Dawna Langford, 43; and Christina Marie Langford Johnson, 29. The children were Howard Miller, 12; Trevor Langford, 11; Krystal Miller, 10; Rogan Langford, 2; and 8-month-old twins Titus and Tiana Miller.
The La Linea drug cartel, formerly the Juarez cartel, has been blamed for carrying out the massacre, and nearly three dozen members, including some of its leaders, have been arrested.
“This dangerous fugitive, wanted for the massacre of innocent women and children, is back in Mexico thanks to the resourceful efforts of ERO deportation officers collaborating with HSI special agents,” said ERO El Paso Field Office Director Mary De Anda-Ybarra. “Anyone who believes they can seek refuge in the United States to shield themselves from authorities in their home country is sadly mistaken.”
