A Mexican national kicked out of the country decades ago after being convicted of raping a child in Delaware has been arrested again by ICE agents in Lynn.

Rulaman Lopez Nolasco, 42, now faces deportation to Mexico. He also holds Guatemalan citizenship.

He was also previously arrested in 2015 and convicted of sexual conduct for a fee, according to immigration officials. Once he was spotted back in Lynn, he was arrested on Jan. 25.

He was sent back to Mexico in 2006 but made it back “on an unknown date at an unknown location without being inspected or admitted by a U.S. immigration official,” Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston said Monday. It was not clear why he wasn’t sent back after his 2015 case.

“ERO Boston remains committed to finding and removing predators such as this from our New England neighborhoods,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd M. Lyons, who added Nolasco was “a proven threat to children.”

Nolasco’s arrest was part of a nationwide ICE operation targeting illegal immigrants with pending charges or convictions for murder, homicide or assault against children. The operation netted 171 illegal in January.

In fiscal year 2023, ERO made 170,590 administrative arrests, a 19.5% increase over the previous year. ERO arrested 73,822 noncitizens with a criminal history; those arrested had an average of four charges and convictions per individual, including more than 33,209 charges or convictions for assault, 7,520 for weapons offenses, 1,713 for homicide-related offenses, and 1,615 for kidnapping.