ICE deportation officer Jose Muniz indicted for accepting bribes to lift immigration detainers at Harris County Jail

On June 24, 2025, a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas returned an indictment charging Jose Angel Muniz, a deportation officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations, with accepting bribes in exchange for lifting immigration detainers on individuals held at the Harris County Jail in Houston. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, three Houston bail bondsmen — Leopoldo Perrault Benitez, owner of A Way Out Bail Bonds; his son and employee Anthony Benitez; and Isaac Sierra of International Bonding Company — allegedly paid Muniz between April 2023 and March 2024 to remove the holds, allowing people the government was holding for removal to be released on bond without being transferred to ICE custody.

The indictment was unsealed on July 2, 2025, when all four defendants made initial appearances before a U.S. magistrate judge and were ordered into custody pending further proceedings. U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said his office "takes allegations of corruption by federal officers extremely seriously." The investigation was conducted by ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General. If convicted, each defendant faces up to 15 years in prison and a substantial fine. An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.