ICE Arrests Five-Time Deported Felon During Traffic Stop in California

Every day, ICE law enforcement is hard at work keeping criminals off American streets

WASHINGTON - The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested a previously-deported illegal alien during a traffic stop in Kings Beach, California.

On October 7, 2026, HSI Sacramento and ERO Reno arrested Mario Jesus Valdez-Flores, an illegal alien from Mexico and convicted felon, following a traffic stop. Valdez-Flores has been previously deported from the United States FIVE times and has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for driving under the influence and transport/sell narcotics/controlled substance, as well as arrests for first-degree robbery, conspiracy, and assault with a deadly weapon.

Mario Jesus Valdez-Flores

Valdez-Flores will remain in ICE custody pending his removal to Mexico.

"Another criminal illegal alien has been taken off the streets by the brave patriots of ICE," said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "This illegal alien from Mexico has previously been convicted for drug trafficking and driving under the influence and arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree robbery, and conspiracy. He will be deported so he can never again commit crimes against the people of the United States of America. Every day, the Department of Homeland Security enforces the laws of Congress in order to protect the backyards of every American. We are proud to protect the Homeland. Under the Trump Administration, ICE will continue to remove illegal aliens from American streets and deport them."

Valdez-Flores was lawfully admitted to the United States in 2004, but overstayed his authorized period of admission. He has been deported FIVE times: in 2008 (April, May, and July), 2009, and 2016.

Under Governor Gavin Newsom, California has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime. Some of the recent illegal alien crimes in the sanctuary state include:

• In September, ICE lodged a detainer for Chamkaur Singh, an illegal alien from India, after his arrest for causing a semi-truck crash that killed two people in Ontario, California. He had been granted a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) by Gavin Newsom's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
• In July, ICE lodged a detainer for Gokhan Bagci, an illegal alien from Turkey, after his arrest for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl at a daycare in Sacramento, California.
• In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Joaquin Escoto Vazquez, an illegal alien from Mexico, after his arrest for fatally stabbing two women and a baby in Modesto, California.
• In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Manvir Singh, an illegal alien from India, after he was arrested for causing a semi-truck crash that killed two people near Lodi, California.
• In May, ICE arrested Aman Kumar, an illegal alien from India, who had been released by sanctuary politicians in California after causing a hit-and-run accident that injured a 4-year-old boy in Fresno, California.
• In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Wilfredo Jose Tortolero-Arriechi, an illegal alien from Venezuela, after he had been arrested for fatally stabbing a social worker in a hospital in San Francisco, California.
• In April, ICE arrested David Antonio Aviles Perez, an illegal alien from El Salvador and MS-13 member, in San Diego, California, who has an international warrant for aggravated murder and had previously been arrested in California for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and petty theft.
• In February, Governor Newsom pardoned Somboon Phaymany, an illegal alien from Cambodia who had been convicted for attempted murder and assault with a firearm.
• In January, ICE lodged a detainer for Enrique Bautista Vasquez, an illegal alien from Mexico, after he had been arrested for raping an autistic girl in Cathedral City, California.
• In December 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Brayan Alva-Rodriguez, an illegal alien from Guatemala, after he had been arrested for causing a drunk driving crash that killed an 8-year-old girl in San Diego, California.
• In December 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Hector Balderas-Aheelor, an illegal alien from Mexico who had been previously deported FOUR times, after he was arrested for causing a felony hit-and-run accident that killed an 11-year-old boy on Thanksgiving morning.
• In November 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Humberto Munoz-Gatica, an illegal alien from Mexico, after he was arrested for driving under the influence and hit-and-run following a fatal crash that killed a 71-year-old man in Orange County, California.
• In October 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Beto Cerillo-Bialva, an illegal alien from Mexico, after he was arrested for murder following a drunk-driving crash that killed six people in Napa County, California.
• In June 2025, ICE arrested Cuong Chanh Phan, an illegal alien from Vietnam, who had been convicted of second-degree murder for his involvement in a mass shooting in 1994 that killed two teenagers and injured seven others at a graduation party in San Marino, California.
• In June 2024, Partap Singh, an illegal alien from India, caused a multi-car pileup while driving an 18-wheeler recklessly in San Bernardino, California, after he had been given a CDL by Newsom's DMV. The crash seriously injured 5-year-old Dalilah Coleman and several others.

In addition to the crimes committed by illegal aliens in California, Governor Newsom's sanctuary policies have had disastrous consequences in other states as well. These include:

• In September, ICE lodged a detainer for Manjit Singh, an illegal alien from India, who was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide after causing a semi-truck crash that killed a woman in Brown County, Ohio. He had been granted a CDL by Newsom's California.
• In July, ICE lodged a detainer for Axel Eduardo Chavez-Marroquin, an illegal alien from El Salvador, after he was arrested for murdering a veteran in Utah. He had twice been arrested in California for domestic violence - in Santa Ana in 2024, and then in Laguna Niguel in 2025 - but despite ICE lodging detainers against him both times, California sanctuary politicians released him from jail and back into the community.
• In January, ICE lodged detainers for Gunpreet Singh and Jasveer Singh, criminal illegal aliens from India, after they had been arrested for smuggling more than 300 pounds of cocaine in a semi-truck in Putnam County, Indiana. Governor Newsom's DMV had given both men CDLs.
• In December 2025, ICE arrested Gerson Emir Cuadra Soto, an illegal alien from Honduras and MS-13 member who is wanted in his home country for a quadruple homicide, in Grand Island, Nebraska. He had been given a driver's license by Newsom's DMV.
• In November 2025, Rajinder Kumar, an illegal alien from India who had been given a CDL by Newsom's DMV, jackknifed his semi-truck and trailer on a highway in Deschutes County, Oregon, killing a newlywed couple. ICE arrested Kumar in April 2026.

In August 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Harjinder Singh, an illegal alien from India, after he made an illegal U-turn in his semi-truck and killed three people in St. Lucie County, Florida. Singh had obtained his CDL in Newsom's California.

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