Joel Armando Mejia-Benitez

Joel Armando Mejia-Benitez is a 38-year-old Salvadoran national and validated MS-13 gang member who was recently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Maryland. He was in the news for being the subject of an Interpol Red Notice and has a history of illegal entry into the United States, having first entered the country illegally in 2005, then being deported, and re-entering at an unknown date prior to his arrest in 2014. His arrest comes amidst heightened focus on immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.