Federal immigration authorities have identified two Guatemalan nationals arrested in Sussex County as part of an operation targeting convicted sex offenders. The men, Hugo Douglas Mendoza-Bamaca and Benito Niz-Chilel, were both added to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Worst of the Worst” list.
According to ICE’s Philadelphia Field Office, 33-year-old Hugo Douglas Mendoza-Bamaca (Left), described as a sexual predator from Guatemala, was arrested on November 5, 2025, after being convicted in Delaware of fourth-degree rape in Georgetown and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Delaware Department of Correction records list Mendoza-Bamaca under supervised custody through the Georgetown Probation and Parole Office, with a scheduled release date in November 2030. It remains unclear whether that supervision reflects a suspended portion of his state sentence or a change in custody status following his ICE arrest.
State court documents show multiple proceedings tied to Mendoza-Bamaca. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 3, 2025, in the Sussex County Court of Common Pleas, and another court date was set for July 14, 2025, listed as an arraignment. Records also show an older, unrelated case from 2018, which included an arraignment on August 27, 2018, and a trial set for December 3, 2018, though the nature of those charges is not specified in public filings.
ICE also announced the arrest of 26-year-old Benito Niz-Chilel (Right) on November 8, 2025, describing him as a Guatemalan national convicted in Sussex County of second-degree unlawful sexual contact with a child under 18. He was sentenced to three years in prison, a notably short term for that offense under Delaware law, though state officials have not publicly explained the circumstances of his sentencing.
According to the Delaware Department of Correction, Niz-Chilel’s custody status was updated to “transferred out of state” on November 10, 2025, following the ICE arrest.
State court records show that Niz-Chilel had a hearing scheduled for August 14, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. in Sussex County Superior Court, and a separate arraignment scheduled for October 15, 2025, in Justice of the Peace Court 14 in Georgetown, which was later canceled.
It is not yet clear whether the ICE arrests mark the beginning of immigration removal proceedings following the completion of their state sentences, or if the men are now being held under federal authority in place of, or concurrent with, state supervision.
Despite both men’s convictions and custody updates earlier this year, Delaware officials did not publicly announce their arrests, and no state agency has issued a statement acknowledging their arrest by federal authorities.
ICE update its “Worst of the Worst” public list earlier this month, an initiative that highlights violent offenders taken into federal immigration custody after state-level convictions. Both men remain under federal immigration authority as their cases proceed.