News Releases and Statements

Abdulaziz Salem Al Balawi, 25, was sentenced to 24 months incarceration.

Joseph Richard Caruso, 34, a prolific darknet narcotics vendor residing in Lake Oswego, Oregon, was sentenced today to 87 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release for illegally distributing fentanyl that was linked to a 2017 fatal overdose in Wisconsin.

The individual, Arash Vakhshouri, 40, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was charged by the grand jury with submitting false documents to a government agency and aggravated identity theft and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut.

The Independence Day fireworks display and Boston Pops orchestra concert celebration, held annually alongside the Charles River on the Boston Esplanade in Boston, is a nationally-televised public event designated as a Level 2 event under the Department’s Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) system which determines the risk level of public events that may be considered as potential threat targets.

Shawn Thomas Conaway, 45, of Baker City, Oregon, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 60 months in federal prison for attempted travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, Special Agent in Charge Brad Bench of ICE’s HSI Seattle Field Office and U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced.

Thomas Close is awaiting trial on charges of production of child pornography related to his alleged surreptitious recording of boys changing after swimming as part of Boy Scout activities. Close, 40, lived in Richland County. He was known as “Aqua Joe” because he worked with the Boy Scouts of America, often with their swimming program.

ICE is focused on removing public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, as well as individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws, including those who illegally re-entered the country after being removed and immigration fugitives ordered removed by federal immigration judges.

Among these 37 individuals were 35 convicted criminals, who traveled via a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) ICE Air Operations flight from Dallas, Texas to their home country.

Two Dominican nationals wanted for murder and manslaughter in their home country were removed Tuesday by officers with ICE's ERO Philadelphia. ERO previously removed one of the individuals in 2011.

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) oversees two types of practical training program for international students, curricular practical training (CPT) and optional practical training (OPT). The two programs, however, have different requirements and purposes. As a result, the two training programs are not interchangeable.

Officers with ICE ERO assisted the USMS lead fugitive task force and Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in yesterday’s arrest of Rodolfo Navarro-Salgado.

Michael Cerdas Molina was convicted of sexual assault against a minor in Costa Rica in 2016 and sentenced to six years imprisonment. However, he absconded to the United States in March 2017, prior to serving his sentence, using a valid nonimmigrant visa that was issued to him in 2010. He failed to depart the United States in accordance with the terms of his admission, which rendered him removable under U.S. immigration law.

The enforcement statistics from January-March 2019 illustrate that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is committed to arresting and removing unlawfully present aliens, with criminal histories, who threaten public safety and endanger immigrant communities.

A Honduran man, who was in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), died Sunday at the Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital (MHNH) in Humble, Texas. An autopsy is pending to determine his cause of death.

The international operation resulted in a total of 25 arrests and 53 search warrants executed in three countries. Over the course of the operation, law enforcement seized 5,300 firearms and components, 167 explosives/ordinances and 15 silencers from the transnational criminal organization (TCO).

As part of Operation Limelight USA, HSI is conducting similar public outreach at international airports throughout the U.S. The U.S. program was designed by HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, basing it off the United Kingdom’s Operation Limelight which is conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service and Border Authority. 

Reid Derrick Witcher, 45, was arrested after authorities executed a state search warrant at his Odessa home. According to the filed federal criminal complaint, Witcher said he has been downloading and viewing child pornography for about 10 years, and he possessed about 100,000 images of child pornography contained in electronic media.

While conducting import trade enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers detected an anomaly during an x-ray scan of a container of beach chairs from China. Officers also observed that the original security seal lock was replaced with another lock. Officers discovered four large black duffel bags inside the container. The bags contained a combined 125 bricks of a white powdery substance that field-tested positive for cocaine.

Larry Earnest Tillery (father), 69, Judy Kay Tillery (mother), 62, and Brian Tillery (son), 46, all from Beaumont, Texas, pleaded guilty June 25, for their roles in a massive gambling operation.

Aliens arrested during this operation are from the following seven countries: Mexico (58), Guatemala (6), Honduras (6), El Salvador (2), Kenya (1), Ecuador (1) and Vietnam (1).

During this enforcement surge, ICE deportation officers made arrests in the following Texas cities: Rio Grande Valley (9), San Antonio (7), Laredo (20), and Austin/Waco (16). Of those arrested, 46 were men; six were women.

IMAGE stands for ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers. As part of this agreement, STEC USA and Tranor Industries, have pledged to maintain a secure and stable workforce and curtail the employment of unauthorized workers through outreach and education.