In collaboration with El Salvadoran authorities, U.S. immigration and customs enforcement officers apprehended former Catholic priest Jesus Orlando Elazo Garvez, who is wanted for child rape allegations dating back to 2022. These incidents reportedly occurred while he was serving in Cuscatlan, El Salvador.
The Los Angeles ICE office partnered with the San Salvador Safe Task Force to facilitate his return to El Salvador. This task force, established in 2012 with local law enforcement, aims to enhance fugitive enforcement and share information efficiently.
ICE stated that the task force’s primary objective is to leverage local law enforcement data to locate, arrest, and detain undocumented individuals in the U.S. who have outstanding arrest warrants in their home countries.
In the case of Elazo Garvez, the task force utilized a prior conviction for absenteeism from court dating back to July 2024 to assist in his return upon his entry into San Salvador.
Jose Luis Escobar, the current archbishop of San Salvador, publicly confirmed that sexual abuse incidents had occurred within Elazo Garvez’s parish. A video posted in 2023 on YouTube detailed the archbishop’s announcement. He stated that Elazo Garvez had been suspended from his clerical duties pending the outcome of the investigation.
Previously, Elazo Garvez had fled El Salvador for the United States before he could be arrested and had remained on the run until now. It’s worth noting that this situation isn’t entirely unique; he had visited Ohio in 2015 as part of efforts to create a partnership between his parish and St. Michael’s in Fort Loramie, an event highlighted in a local report.
Despite his efforts to evade justice, the legal proceedings against him in El Salvador have continued. Recent updates to the country’s criminal laws permit trials to proceed even if the accused fails to appear, according to reports from the Associated Press. The former priest was found guilty in July 2024 for the rape of a minor, a crime reportedly committed in December 2022, and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
