WASHINGTON - As part of operation Midway Blitz, in honor of Katie Abraham, ICE officers arrested on Sept. 15 a Larazo gang member who beat a 21-year-old to death in cold blood and was convicted of murder in 2005. The following his release from the Statesville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois. The maximum-security facility refused to honor an ICE detainer and released Aldo Salazar Bahena, 37, under the state's reckless sanctuary policies on Sept. 12, endangering Illinois communities for three days before ICE officials found and arrested him.

On Sept. 3, 2005, Salazar was part of a group of men who murdered Fernando Diaz Jr., a 21-year-old they allege made a disparaging remark about their gang. The gang members violently beat Diaz to death and dumped his body on a trail near the Fox River. Police arrested Salazar nine days later, on Sept. 12. On July 10, 2007, a judge in the Kane County Circuit Court convicted him and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

"Salazar was locked away in one of Illinois' maximum-security prisons for two decades for murder, but the state saw fit to release him despite the fact that he had a final order of removal from a Department of Justice immigration judge dated Sept. 26, 2016," said acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons. "Sanctuary policies, by design, protect criminals- and in this case, a murderer- over the safety of American communities. Luckily, ICE was there to effectuate his lawful arrest and removal from the streets."

Salazar entered the United States on July 21, 1998, as a lawful permanent resident. He never adjusted his status to become a U.S. citizen, instead choosing to maintain his Mexican citizenship. He lost his lawful permanent resident status on Sept. 26, 2016, when an immigration judge ordered him removed.

ICE Chicago lodged an immigration detainer with the Stateville Correctional Center prior to Salazar's Sept. 12, 2025 release, but state officials refused to transfer him directly to ICE custody. Had prison officials honored the detainer, ICE officers would have been able to assume custody in a safe, controlled location. However, despite ICE's formal request, and due to Illinois' dangerous sanctuary policies that prioritize criminal aliens over law-abiding Americans, the prison released Salazar approximately 30 miles southwest of Chicago.

ICE officers located and arrested Salazar Sept. 15 in Elgin, IL. He will remain in ICE custody until his removal from the United States.

Learn more about ICE's public safety mission on X at @ICEgov.