U.S. deports Filipino human rights violator
Regor Cadag Aquilar admitted spying on political targets that were later killed by a Philippine military unit unit. ICE PHOTO
SAN FRANCISCO – United States immigration authorities on deported a Filipino who admitted doing surveillance for a law enforcement task force in the Philippines linked to the disappearance of several opposition politicians.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported Regor Cadag Aguilar, 42, less than two months after his capture by ICE officers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Aguilar arrived in Manila at noon Wednesday (Pacific Standard Time), on a commercial flight escorted by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers. Aguilar’s repatriation to the Philippines follows his arrest January 5, 2015, in Union City by members of one of ERO’s Fugitive Operations Teams.
Aguilar originally entered the U.S. on a visitor’s visa 15 years ago and overstayed, leading his placement in removal proceedings. In testimony offered during those proceedings, Aguilar acknowledged that, from 1998 to 2001, he worked as a surveillance agent for a law enforcement task force in the Philippines that targeted rival political figures, according to an ICE press release.
While Aguilar maintained he wasn’t aware of the task force’s illegal activities at the time, he testified that one of his surveillance targets disappeared and was presumed dead. He further testified that his superiors said other members of the task force relied on his surveillance to abduct and murder a political figure. Aguilar also testified that he heard superiors order task force members to torture abducted individuals.
In 2010, a San Francisco immigration judge ordered Aguilar removed and, following the exhaustion of all of his appeals, ICE carried out his removal order.
“This day has been in the making for more than a decade, but it should leave no question about ICE’s resolve to hold human rights violators accountable for their actions,” said ICE Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale.
ICE’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC) investigates human rights violators who try to evade justice by seeking shelter in the United States, including those who are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, and the use or recruitment of child soldiers. These individuals may use fraudulent identities to enter the country and attempt to blend into communities in the United States.
Since fiscal year 2004, ICE has arrested more than 360 individuals for human rights-related violations under various criminal and/or immigration statutes. During that same period, ICE obtained deportation orders and physically removed more than 780 known or suspected human rights violators from the United States, the agency’s press release stated.
Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to contact ICE by calling the toll-free ICE tip line at 1-866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also email [email protected] or complete ICE’s online tip form.
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