Friedrich Castillo-Ormeno says he had already left the U.S. and settled back in Peru before ICE linked him to a deportation case in New Jersey. He said he and his family departed on March 2 and arrived in Peru on March 3, three months before the agency said it was seeking his arrest in Manahawkin.
Castillo-Ormeno said the timing matters because he had already received CBP Home incentive payments in late April. He said he and his girlfriend each received $2,600 after the government verified that he was in his country, and he shared pictures of the plane tickets and the family’s flight back to Peru.
ICE said this week that officers conducted a targeted vehicle stop in New Jersey to detain a Peruvian immigrant with a final deportation order. The agency said one officer was struck when officers tried to stop a van in Manahawkin, and that the officer later received medical attention at a hospital for injuries to his legs.
Peru Timeline
Castillo-Ormeno told Noticias Telemundo from Pisco, Peru, that he was born in Peru and arrived in the U.S. in the summer of 2022. He said he had checked in with ICE while his asylum case moved through immigration court, and an immigration judge issued a final order of removal on Jan. 30.
He said his departure came later, on March 2, after he and his family left the U.S. and crossed back into Peru the next day. "It gave me goosebumps, because the accusation involves a very serious matter," he said in Spanish from Pisco. "It’s a serious matter that could affect me — perhaps now, perhaps in the future — because they are practically treating me like a criminal, and I just didn’t know what to do," he said.
ICE and DHS
The agency said the driver weaponized the vehicle and struck an officer, which led the officer to discharge his weapon. DHS later stood by ICE’s original statement on Wednesday, but it also said, "We never said Friedrich Castillo-Ormeno was the driver of the vehicle that was weaponized against our officer," and added, "We stand by our statement."
DHS said ICE officers were at Castillo-Ormeno’s last known address and saw someone who looked similar to the target get into a van that left the residence. That leaves the core dispute in place: Castillo-Ormeno says he was already in Peru and had been paid to leave voluntarily, while ICE tied the New Jersey stop to his name and removal order.
For Castillo-Ormeno, the practical issue now is not travel or custody in Peru but whether the U.S. record attached to him will be corrected. For ICE and DHS, the unresolved question is why the operation moved forward against someone who says he had already left the country and collected the incentive payment tied to voluntary departure.
