U.S. immigration authorities detained and subsequently deported Ariel Núñez Figueroa, a former municipal policeman from Huitzuco, Guerrero. Núñez Figueroa was under investigation in Mexico for his alleged involvement in the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported that Núñez Figueroa was arrested on September 9, 2024, in Houston, Texas, after Interpol issued an alert regarding his whereabouts. Ultimately, an immigration judge ordered his deportation in January 2025, which took place on March 6 when he was transferred from the Montgomery Processing Center to the Juárez-Lincoln Bridge at the border, where he was handed over to Mexican authorities.
Regarding the accusations, Núñez Figueroa is accused of kidnapping and having ties to organized crime, specifically delivering the 43 students to the criminal organization Guerreo Unidos. According to ICE, this former policeman had been living irregularly in the United States, where he sought refuge after being identified as a suspect in the case of the missing students.
"Bret Bradford, director of ICE's Houston Field Office, mentioned that 'for almost 11 years, this fugitive evaded authorities while the family and friends of those 43 students, who were brutally murdered, patiently awaited justice.'"
Núñez Figueroa had appeared on a list of alleged participants in the Ayotzinapa case revealed in October 2023 by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In fact, both his brother Celedonio Núñez Figueroa and his father, Javier Núñez Duarte, a former municipal police chief, were also investigated in the same case.
Mexican authorities believe that capturing and questioning Núñez Figueroa could provide key information about the identity and whereabouts of "El Patrón," who is presumed to be the mastermind behind the attack against the students of the Isidro Burgos Rural Normal School.
