News Releases and Statements

Fredy Arbito, 31, of Hightstown, N.J., previously pleaded guilty to the charge in U.S. District Court. As part of his guilty plea, Arbito admitted that from July 2011 to January 2013 he made contact with a young girl over a video chat messaging system and coerced her to engage in sexually explicit conduct via webcam.

On four separate indictments, Ezequiel Bayon-Santos, Katherine Agostini-Ruiz, Rafael Torres-Vicente and Eileen Martinez-Esteves were charged with trafficking counterfeit Freshlook Colorblends contact lenses. They face a collective forfeiture allegation of 226 boxes of counterfeit contact lenses.

IPR Center, HSI, CBP and Mexican Customs received awards for Operation Team Player, which targeted the sale of counterfeit sports products and tickets. The operation netted more than $37 million in fake sports merchandise, 70 arrests and 163 website seizures.

Indicted were Ahmad Feras Diri, 39, of London; Harold Rinko, 72, of Hallstead, Susquehanna County, Pa., and Moawea Deri, 36, a Syrian citizen, and a firm with which Ahmad Feras Diri and Moawea Deri were associated.

William Zimmerman was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release following his prison sentence. He also will be required to continue to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which he lives, works, or attends school.

Nsane Phanuel Ligate, 42, of Ashburn, Va., a real estate agent, and Cane Mwihava, 43, of Bowie, Md., pleaded guilty to providing false information about the properties' buyer and renovations.

Zahid Yousaf, 45, pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization in federal court in September 2011.

Aliaksandr Stashynski, 30, who served a 9-month federal prison sentence, was removed from the United States and turned over to Belarusian authorities at the Minsk International Airport.

Javier Diaz-Diaz, 41, aka Enrique Anaya-Velasquez, was transferred to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General's Office. In a warrant issued by authorities in the state of Jalisco in 2009, Diaz-Diaz is accused of raping two women in separate incidents.

The updates make it easier to search for nonimmigrant students by SEVIS ID numbers and work with lists of nonimmigrant students within SEVIS. For the first time since SEVIS was launched in 2003, SEVIS users will be able to open a nonimmigrant record from any list in SEVIS, take action on that record and return directly to the same list.

Laron Darrell Carter, aka 'Birdd,' 36, of Gardena, Calif., is charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a statutory maximum penalty of life in federal prison.

Sylvespa Eugene Adams, aka 'Sylvesta Adams, Pa and Paw,' 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay to 210 months in federal prison.

In remembering the terrible events of the Rwandan genocide, ICE remains vigilant to all expressions of hatred, persecution and tyranny and affirms its commitment to seek justice for victims of the Rwandan genocide and other human rights atrocities around the world.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, which is a good time to visit the ICE exhibit and see the highway sign that represents Operation Sunflower, a child exploitation case led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Hao Yang, 25, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz, who also entered an order that Yang forfeit five bank accounts worth more than $59,000, a 2010 Acura purchased with proceeds of the crime, and counterfeit computer software, DVDs, sports jerseys and other items valued at approximately $280,720.

Matthew Cenac faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison, if convicted.

Libia Hernandez-Garcia, 60, was originally indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver May 21, 2013. Her indictment remained sealed until she was arrested in Miami Feb. 26, 2014. A superseding indictment was filed Feb. 25.

As part of the effort, Cumulus will air on their four western New York stations a 60-second PSA, which features HSI Buffalo Special Agent in Charge James Spero discussing some basic tips on how parents and young people can avoid online predators.

Didier De Nier, 63, who lived in Simi Valley until he fled the U.S. nearly two years ago, was found guilty Wednesday of five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

HSI New Orleans launched the iGuardian campaign in Louisiana Wednesday with the first presentation in the state before approximately 150 middle school students at St. Cletus Catholic School in Gretna.

Silvestre Barrera-Villegas 52, of Camargo, Mexico, was sentenced Thursday to 130 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez. Since he is not a U.S. citizen, Barrera-Villegas is also expected to face deportation proceedings after he's released from prison. He pleaded guilty to the drug-trafficking charges Jan. 29.

The popularity of massive open online courses (MOOCs) is on the rise for students around the world. These classes are taught exclusively online and are often free of cost. They have very high enrollments - sometimes hundreds or thousands of students.

Tyrell Daniels, 20, of Abilene, Texas, has been in custody since his arrest in November 2013 on a related federal criminal complaint. A federal grand jury indicted him later that month on one count of enticing a child, and one count of producing child pornography.

Peter Smith Santos Aguilar-De Leon, 29, a native and citizen of Mexico, unlawfully residing in the United States, was charged in a one-count indictment April 16 by a federal grand jury in Harrisburg.

The following five men were arrested March 19: Jose Aviles-Villa, 34, Jonathan Solorzano-Tavila, 28, Antonio Barruquet-Hildeberta, 40, Jose Cesmas-Borja, 22, and Eugenio Sesmas-Borja, 20. On that date, 115 illegal aliens were discovered in a stash house on Almeda School Road in Houston.