‘Kidnapped’ by ICE? NJ arrests include accused sex offender, violent criminal

🔴 ICE touts arrests of three unauthorized immigrants in New Jersey in the past month.

🔴 Each is accused or convicted of serious crimes, such as sexual assault or neglect.

🔴 One arrest sparked a GoFundMe campaign calling the detention a “kidnapping.”

NEWARK — As tensions over immigration enforcement escalate nationwide, three unauthorized immigrants accused of heinous crimes have been arrested in New Jersey over the last month.

Most recently, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Newark office announced the arrest of Avilio Noel Salazar Martinez. He's being held until his deportation.

Martinez was arrested on Jan. 13. According to ICE, he's an unauthorized immigrant from Honduras who is "wanted for violent crimes and ties to criminal organizations in his home country."

Two days earlier, on Jan. 11, Dominican national Joel Carmona Roa was arrested near the Woodbridge Center Mall. According to ICE, Roa is wanted in Spain for the sexual assault of a minor. ICE did not respond to a request for more information from New Jersey 101.5 on Monday.

And nearly one month ago, Efren Cortez-Velez was arrested by ICE on Dec. 28, 2025, during a targeted enforcement operation. According to a press release, Cortez-Velez is an unauthorized immigrant from Mexico with prior convictions in Passaic.

ICE said that in 2007, he pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and resisting arrest, and paid a $377 fine. Later that same year, he was arrested for child endangerment. He pleaded guilty to abuse, abandonment, cruelty and neglect and was sentenced to six months in prison.

ICE defends mission amid political backlash and rising assaults

ICE officials tout the arrests as examples of why their mission is necessary. According to ICE Director Todd Lyons, the agency's officers are doing their jobs while facing a 1,347% increase in assaults.

“Despite the constant rhetoric from politicians, activists and the media claiming that ICE is somehow wrong for doing its constitutionally mandated mission, the reality is that we’re out there arresting people like Efren Cortez-Velez," Lyons said.

GoFundMe calls ICE arrest a "kidnapping"

Cortez-Velez is also a father of four children. A GoFundMe posted last month said that he had been "kidnapped by ICE." The fundraiser, which did not include his prior convictions, was seeking $10,000 and had raised less than $500 as of late Tuesday morning.

READ MORE: The immigration debate dividing New Jersey: Where do you stand?

"It’s heartbreaking to see our family separated. Right now he is in ICE custody, and I hope anyone reading this can help us prevent him from being taken away — if not for me, then for his son, and especially for my three sisters who still need him to grow," his son said.

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