A man convicted of raping a Maryland resident was apprehended in Montgomery Village by officers from Enforcement and Removal Operations Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehension Program, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Madai Gamaliel Amaya, 36, from Honduras was removed from the U.S. and reentered twice before his apprehension Aug. 29 in Montgomery Village, ICE said in a news release.

Amaya was arrested and charged with rape in the second degree by Montgomery County Police in January 2009, according to the release. In August that same year, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County convicted Amaya and sentenced him to 10 years in prison with three years of probation, later suspending two years and six months of his sentence.

ERO Baltimore lodged a detainer request with the Maryland Correctional Institute-Hagerstown in July 2010, ICE said, and the next month, ERO Baltimore served a final administrative removal order to Amaya.

Amaya was transferred to ERO Baltimore’s custody in 2013, and the agency removed him to Honduras, ICE said in the release. About three years later, U.S. Border Patrol officials apprehended Amaya near Hidalgo, Texas, issuing a notice of intent/decision to reinstate the prior removal order, ICE said.

In 2017, Amaya was convicted of unlawful entry after removal by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in McAllen and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, the release said. ERO Dallas took custody of Amaya in September 2018 and removed him to Honduras in November that year.

Amaya reentered the U.S. at an unknown date and location. He remains in ERO custody, the release said, after he was apprehended in August and received a notice of intent/decision to reinstate the prior removal order.

Amaya’s arrest marks ERO Baltimore’s 153 “noncitizen sex offender apprehension” in Maryland this fiscal year, the release said.

Maryland became a hotbed of political discourse about immigration after the death of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, in August 2023 and the arrest of a suspect from El Salvador.

The debate between federal lawmakers in Maryland grew, with Republicans blaming President Joe Biden and Democrats noting Republicans rejected a bipartisan border security deal.