Just last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Guatemalan national in Habersham County, according to the agency.
Authorities say Miguel Andres-Mateo, 20, was arrested for DUI in May of 2023 before he was sentenced to 12 months probation.
Recently, just over a year later, the Atlanta office of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Mobile Criminal Alien Team apprehended Andres-Mateo in Cornelia on Jan. 21.
Andres-Mateo is said to have entered the U.S. illegally “at an unknown time and location,” according to ICE. An immigration judge had previously ordered his removal in October of 2014. This would have made Andres-Mateo about 10-years-old at the time of the removal order.
Now Habersham has reached out to ICE’s Atlanta office for clarity on this specific detail.
Mateo subsequently failed to comply with the voluntary departure order, the agency said.
Following his arrest, ICE officers issued Mateo a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge. He remains in ICE custody with ERO.
