Working with law enforcement authorities in El Salvador, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents removed a former Catholic priest and wanted fugitive to his home country to face justice. Jesus Orlando Erazo-Galvez was wanted on charges of child rape committed while he performed his priestly duties in the Salvadoran State of Cuscatlán in 2022.
The Los Angeles ICE office coordinated the return of the fugitive to his native El Salvador in conjunction with the agency’s San Salvador SAFE Task Force. The task force, created in 2012 in concert with Salvadoran law enforcement authorities, was implemented as a fugitive enforcement and information-sharing partnership.
According to ICE, the task force’s primary mission is to leverage Salvadoran law enforcement intelligence and information to locate, apprehend, detain, and remove individuals residing in the United States illegally who are subject to foreign arrest warrants.
In the case of former priest Erazo-Galvez, the ICE task force relied upon a conviction in absentia entered in San Salvador in July 2024. Erazo’s case began when authorities were notified in 2023 by the Archdiocese of San Salvador that the sexual abuse of a minor child had occurred at a San Cristobal Parish in Cuscatlán, El Salvador, in December 2022.
Jose Luis Escobar, the sitting catholic archbishop of San Salvador, publicly announced acts of sexual abuse had occurred at Erazo-Galves San Cristobal parish in a video recording posted on YouTube in 2023. The archbishop announced Erazo-Galvez had provided a statement concerning the acts before an ecclesiastic tribunal at the archdiocese office. In the statement, the archbishop announced Erazo-Galvez had been immediately suspended from performing priestly duties.
The former priest, Erazo-Galvez, fled El Salvador to the United States before he could be arrested and has remained a fugitive until his recent capture. It would not be the first time the former priest had visited the country. In 2015, Erazo-Galvez visited Fort Loramie in rural Ohio as part of a plan to build a sister parish between San Cristobal in El Salvador and St. Michael’s parish in Fort Loramie. The visit was highlighted in a report by Sidney, Ohio’s Daily News.
Erazo-Galvez’s flight from justice did not stop the criminal process from moving forward in his home country. Recent reforms to Salvadoran laws regarding criminal court processes permit trials and hearings to be held in absentia when accused parties are unable to attend. A Spanish-language news report by the Associated Press provided details of the Erazo-Galvez conviction last July.
According to the AP, in July 2024, the former priest was found guilty by a court in San Salvador of rape perpetrated against a minor for the acts reportedly committed in December 2022. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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