A former member of the “Houstone” street gang has been deported to Mexico to face murder charges for the deaths of two women, according U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Carlos Garcia-Hernandez, a native of Mexico, was turned over Monday to Mexican officials on the Brownsville International Bridge. ICE officials took the 19-year-old into custody Dec. 11 after they learned he was being sought for the deaths.

The women were killed during a robbery in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in March. Three other people are already serving prison sentences in Mexico in connection to the case, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday for an online story.

Garcia-Hernandez was convicted in Houston for possessing marijuana, escaping from law enforcement custody and driving with a counterfeit driver’s license, according to ICE which previously deported him in November 2007.

Garcia-Hernandez’s deportation is among a 20 percent increase in people being removed from the U.S. in 2008. ICE said in the latest fiscal year, it removed or returned 349,041 illegal immigrants to their native countries, compared with 288,663 in fiscal year 2007.

A third of those deported in 2008 had other criminal convictions besides being in the country illegally, according to the agency.

SOURCE: The Associated Press