Woman arrested by deputies in March reportedly has been deported

A woman arrested by Portage County deputies March 10 following an all-night manhunt has been deported, according to a jail official in Mahoning County, where she was being held.

Jorge Gonzalez Alvarado, 31, and Ana Maria Contreras Jimenez, 33, did not possess a valid drivers license when Portage County deputies pulled over their vehicle on Interstate 76 on March 9 for having expired tags, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post. The pair fled on foot, prompting deputies to chase them through the night, with the help of an Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter. 

The Portage County Sheriff's Office arrested Contreras Jimenez on March 10, and booked her into the Portage County jail on a second-degree misdemeanor charge of obstructing official business. Deputies held her on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, suspecting her to be in the country illegally.

ICE officials arrived on March 13 and transported Contreras Jimenez to the Mahoning County jail, a designated ICE detention facility, where she was held without bond or court date until March 24. After that she was deported, according to a Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office jail administration employee.

“We don't know where they go. ICE transports them,” said the employee, who identified herself only as Deputy Greene and declined to give her first name. The only Mahoning County sheriff’s employee named Greene listed in the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy online records is Mary Jane Greene.

The Portager did not receive any response from an ICE media relations email address asking where Contreras Jimenez was taken, if she had been provided with an attorney and what her next legal options might be.

Gonzalez Alvarado, the driver of the vehicle, remains at large. He faces a second-degree misdemeanor charge of obstructing official business, an unclassified misdemeanor charge of no operator’s license and a minor misdemeanor charge of failure to register a vehicle. Warrants have been issued for his arrest.

Immigration detainers and holds have always been a tool available to ICE and state law enforcement, but before January 2025, they were typically reserved for rare cases such as repeat offenders and violent criminals, said Cleveland immigration attorney Kwasi Bediako, who works at Margaret W. Wong & Associates LLC.

Now, his best advice for immigrants who find themselves in places where local law enforcement and ICE have signed cooperative agreements is to avoid unnecessary interactions with the law.

“Maintain a simple routine such as going to work and then places of worship. Avoid engaging in activities and going to places that are likely to result in an interaction with law enforcement,” he said.

The cooperative agreement Bediako referenced is a Memorandum of Agreement under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. When Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski signed one in March 2025, the PCSO gained the authority to:

• Interrogate "any person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or remain in the United States"

• Arrest a person without a warrant if the officer witnesses them entering the U.S. unlawfully or “has reason to believe” the person is in the U.S. illegally “and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained”

• Arrest a person without a warrant for felonies if "the officer has reason to believe the alien to be arrested is in the United States in violation of the law and is likely to escape before a warrant is obtained"

• Maintain custody of people on behalf of ICE

The MOA requires the sheriff’s office to charge people with local or state offenses and then hold them in detention until their sentences have been served. Afterward, the sheriff’s office is to notify ICE for same-day removal to a “relevant ICE detention office or facility.”

The MOA provided the PCSO with the authority to apprehend Contreras Jimenez and a roadmap as to how to proceed once she was incarcerated.

The PCSO’s Facebook post also stated that, “locations believed to be employing and housing individuals who are in the county illegally have been identified,” and that the information has been forwarded to ICE.

The Portager asked why the PCSO, which has the authority to do so, has not actively investigated these locations itself, what specific information the agency is using as a basis for this information, where the locations are and what information the agency has shared with ICE.

The sheriff’s office did not respond to the Portager’s questions.