ICE: Man accused of infamous mass kidnapping removed from Houston area to Mexico

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HOUSTON - A man has been removed from Houston to Mexico for his alleged role in a mass kidnapping at a college over a decade ago, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Kidnapping suspect removed from Houston

What we know:

According to ICE, 30-year-old Mexican national Ariel Nunez Figueroa was removed to Mexico on Thursday. 

Figueroa was wanted in Mexico for his alleged role in a 2014 mass kidnapping at a teacher's college in Mexico. According to AP, 43 students disappeared from the Rural Normal School at Ayotzinapa.

ICE officials say they were notified by Interpol in September 2024 that Figueroa might have been living in the Houston area. They were notified on September 3 and took him into custody on September 9.

In January 2025, an immigration judge ordered Figueroa to be removed to Mexico. 

He was sent from the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe to the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge Port of Entry in Laredo. ICE officials then turned the suspect over to Mexican authorities.

What we don't know:

There is no information on when or where Figueroa entered the U.S. It's also not clear how Figueroa was located by officials.

2014 Iguala mass kidnapping

The backstory:

On September 26, 2014, 43 students at the Rural Normal School in Mexico went missing.

According to AP, the students were attacked by security forces linked with a local drug gang. The students allegedly stole buses so they could travel to a protest.

Mexican authorities believe the students were killed, but that hasn't been confirmed. Bone fragments for three of the students have been found as of September 2024.

You can read more about the mass kidnappings here.