Federal immigration agents arrested Luis Meza-Olivera on March 14 following a Nashville school official's report of a young girl's fear that her father would kill her mother. The Peruvian national, recently released from prison, faces removal proceedings due to prior violent convictions. Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis praised the tip that led to his detention.
A young girl in Nashville recently told school officials she feared her father, Luis Meza-Olivera, would harm her mother. The school promptly alerted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), prompting federal agents to arrest Meza-Olivera on March 14, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He had just been released from Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville, Tennessee, after serving part of a 12-year sentence for violent crimes handed down in 2017: two counts of aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated kidnapping. DHS records show Meza-Olivera entered the US on a B-2 tourist visa in 2002 and gained lawful permanent resident status in 2010, but his convictions now make him subject to deportation. Other offenses include a DUI in California, plus charges of attempted first-degree murder, vandalism, and child cruelty. Court documents detail a December 27, 2015, incident in Washington County where deputies found a woman 'hogtied' in her bedroom with a rope around her neck. Her five-year-old son, J.S., had called 911 after being locked in a closet; the woman had no memory of the events. Meza-Olivera was arrested days later in Memphis and identified by the victim. Records also describe an episode where the victim was trapped in a bathroom as a fire burned outside, with firefighters discovering a burning rug and an axe head wedged under the door. A Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld his conviction. 'Luis Meza-Olivera is a monster whose daughter feared he would kill her mother. This criminal alien from Peru should NOT be loose on American streets,' Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said. She credited the school official's tip and urged others to report similar concerns to ICE.
