News Releases and Statements

More than 40 criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and immigration violators are facing deportation and criminal charges following an enforcement effort spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Columbus.

ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata was shot and killed in the line of duty Tuesday afternoon in Mexico.

Two ICE special agents assigned to the ICE Attaché office in Mexico City were shot in the line of duty by unknown assailants.

On Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using a federal information sharing capability in Barrow, Newton and Walton counties that helps federal immigration officials use biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the U.S., who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime.

Fred Woolum of Lexington, Va., was sentenced Feb. 15 in the Western District of Pennsylvania to 15 years in prison for engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, Operation Goodbye, a multi-year ICE HSI cyber investigation based in Pittsburgh, specifically targeted the predator group Woolum was engaged with.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using a federal information-sharing capability in Arapahoe, Denver and El Paso counties that helps federal immigration officials use biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime.

Earlier this afternoon, two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents assigned to the ICE Attache office in Mexico City were shot in the line of duty while driving between Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico, by unknown assailants.

U.S. ICE is now using a federal information-sharing capability in the entire state of New Mexico, which helps federal immigration officials use biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime. This capability is part of Secure Communities...

Defendant's shop allegedly sold phony designer clothing, accessories and pro sports apparel

"A citizen of China, who last resided in Queens, N.Y., pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of access-device fraud stemming from a credit card ""bust out"" scheme. The scheme defrauded financial institutions of more than 200,000K in a case investigated by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the cooperation of federal, state and..."

Jesus Arturo Maciass-Nevarez, 44, a Mexican national, was sentenced Feb. 9 to 57 months in prison for illegally re-entering the United States after being deported.

"In order to protect consumers from deals that are too good to be true, U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) served court orders seizing 18 domain names of websites selling counterfeit goods over the Internet. This operation dubbed ""Operation Broken Hearted"" is the fourth phase of ""Operation in Our Sites"" a sustained initiative..."

A Florida corporation pleaded guilty and was sentenced Friday in connection with false statements made on entry documents for the importation of ozone-depleting refrigerant gas, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Ryan Chiles of Hampton, Va., was sentenced Feb. 11, 2011 to 102 months in prison for engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. Chiles and others distributed images and videos of children being sexually abused to other members of an international group that had restricted membership and was formed on a social networking website.

Thurman J. Kitchen, 40, has been in custody since his arrest in September 2010. Noting Kitchen's prior child pornography conviction, Judge McBryde upwardly departed from the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

Opas Sinprasong, 52, a Thai national, was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine, and $754,975 in restitution ($509,618 to his Thai employees and $245,357 to the IRS), as well as the forfeiture of $766,000 and two residential properties in Boulder.

Kevin Fuller, 41, of Oak Park, was sentenced Feb. 9 by U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo, Northern District of Illinois, to 72 months in prison. He was further ordered to register as a sex offender and will serve a lifetime of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence.

A man who fled to the United States after previously being deported to Mexico in 2007 was deported again on Friday to face charges of concealing an illegal weapon. Juan Carlos Holguin-Portillo, 35, a Mexican national, was deported Feb. 11 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Joshua Robert Starnes, 23, of Olympia, Wash., was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma for transportation of child pornography. Starnes was arrested by the WSP on December 31, 2009, after a story he wrote about raping young boys was posted on an Internet site.

A Taiwanese national, who is wanted in her native country in connection with a multi-million dollar embezzlement scheme, was turned over to representatives from the Taipei Ministry of Justice at the Taoyuan International Airport on Wednesday by officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Six individuals, including a former state employee, have been charged with conspiring to illegally produce and transfer identification documents, announced John W. Vaudreuil, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin.

Five individuals who are believed to have run a crack and powder cocaine distribution network based on Staten Island, New York, have been arrested, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)and the New York City Police Department...

Elicio Moctezuma-Cisneros, a previously convicted Mexican national illegally in the United States who conspired to harbor other illegal aliens, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on Thursday as the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Matthew J. Merideth, 34, has been in federal custody since his arrest in October 2010 on a related charge in a federal criminal complaint. Merideth faces a statutory maximum sentence of not less than five or more than 30 years in prison, and a $500,000 fine. Sentencing is set for May 23 before U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means.