An immigrant who self-deported defends himself after ICE said it was seeking his arrest in N.J.

Friedrich Castillo-Ormeno returned to Peru months ago but got calls from relatives saying his name was tied to an incident involving a driver accused of hitting an ICE officer with his car.

ICE said this week that its officers conducted “a targeted vehicle stop” in New Jersey to detain a Peruvian immigrant who had a final deportation order. But the man ICE said it was looking for had self-deported three months ago — and had received compensation for voluntarily leaving the U.S.

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“It gave me goosebumps, because the accusation involves a very serious matter,” Friedrich Castillo-Ormeno told Noticias Telemundo in Spanish from Pisco, Peru, where he was born.

ICE had identified Castillo-Ormeno in a statement it released on Monday that said one of its officers was struck by a vehicle when they “attempted to conduct a vehicle stop” in Manahawkin, New Jersey, to arrest him.