News Releases and Statements

Claudius English, 45, was convicted June 10 in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for multiple counts of sex trafficking minors, attempted sex trafficking of minors as young as 8 years old, kidnapping of a minor, and using a firearm to commit the kidnapping.

Samuel Vasquez-Morales, 18, from Mexico,  pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to transport illegal aliens from China and Brazil within the United States.

Authorities arrested Ivan Dario Puga-Moreno, 23, of Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, on June 6, 2019, in Houston, Texas. He made his initial appearance June 10 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dena Palermo in Houston.

Fresno HSI agents completed a two-day training for local law enforcement officers, analysts, and prosecutors, Wednesday, June 6. During this event, participants received the latest information about federal human trafficking investigations and about proven law enforcement best practices to implement.

Starlin Alfredo Martinez-Morales, 24, from Honduras was originally charged by criminal complaint May 10, 2019.  On June 5, a federal grand jury returned the two-count indictment. He will soon appear for his arraignment before a U.S. magistrate judge.

Naasón Joaquín García (Joaquín García) and his co-defendants allegedly committed these crimes between 2015 and 2018 while leading La Luz Del Mundo, an international religious organization headquartered in Mexico with reportedly more than one million followers worldwide.

Jorge Gonzalez-Ramirez, 27, Guatemala, and Joel Sanchez-Guzman, 25, Mexico, both pleaded guilty to their criminal charges June 4.

As part of the operation, law enforcement teams engaged with more than 15 potential human trafficking victims and gathered intelligence on potential traffickers. Eleven victims agreed to provide details on their situations to law enforcement, and several victims were paired with victim service representatives who can help the victims rebuild their lives through access to housing, medical care, legal assistance, transportation and more.

Osvaldo Gonzalez, 26, from Mission, Texas, was sentenced May 21 by U.S. District Judge Randy Crane to 262 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.  Gonzalez pleaded guilty to the human smuggling charges Nov. 2, 2018.

Amilcar Guiza-Reyes, a 51-year old citizen and national of Honduras, who was previously deported in 2013, made an initial appearance in federal court in the Southern District of Texas May 10, charged with 8 USC 1324 alien smuggling for allegedly smuggling a 6-month-old infant across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Moayad Heider Mohammad Aldari, 31, from Jordan, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bringing in illegal aliens to include his role in a criminal scheme to smuggle Yemenis nationals and into the United States through Mexico.

Rene Flores-Calderon, 35, from Mexico, appeared in federal court before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey who accepted his guilty plea.

Tomas Miguel Mateo, 38, of Guatemala, is charged in a federal criminal complaint with harboring the illegal aliens and with unlawfully re-entering the United States after having been previously deported. 

Representatives from a variety of federal and state law enforcement agencies, as well as nonprofit organizations hit the streets of Charlotte early Thursday morning to target potential human traffickers and aid victims in the hours leading up to NBA All-Star 2019.

ICE's HSI office partnered with Clear Channel Outdoor on a Tampa Bay area human trafficking awareness outreach campaign utilizing billboards across the region.

ICE's HSI Boston Special Agent Michael Morizio was the featured presenter at a well-attended Feb. 5, anti-human trafficking professionals networking and education event hosted by the western Massachusetts division of the Office of the Massachusetts State Attorney General, which focused on effective practices in the identification and combating of human trafficking in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Raul Granados-Rendon, a member of the Granados family sex trafficking ring based in Tenancingo, Tlaxcala, Mexico, was sentenced Monday in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) to eight years’ imprisonment.

Following a sting operation at a Dallas hotel earlier this month, law enforcement liberated dozens of women sold for sex, announced U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox, Northern District of Texas.

Ivan Madrigal Zamora, 47, of Cuba, was convicted of two counts of forced labor trafficking and two counts of encouraging and inducing an alien to reside in the United States.

Allen Nash, 31, was convicted in April of the following charges:  sex trafficking children; conspiracy to commit sex trafficking; sex trafficking through force, fraud or coercion; transporting a minor to engage in commercial sex acts; and illegally possessing ammunition after he forced two victims, aged 17 and 19, into the illicit sex trade in the fall of 2014.

Jose Osvaldo Melendez-Rojas and Rosalio Melendez-Rojas were arrested in February 2018 in Mexico to eventually face various charges in the United States, including sex trafficking conspiracy, sex trafficking of minors, interstate prostitution, alien smuggling and related offenses. The defendants who were extradited are charged together with three co-defendants, who were arrested in the United States in July 2017.

Pedro Silva-Segura, 47, from Mexico but residing illegally in Laredo, Texas, was sentenced Oct. 10 by U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra to 108 months in prison. Since Silva-Segura is not a U.S. citizen he is expected to face deportation proceedings after he completes his prison sentence.

Gerardo Javier Carreon, 36, from San Antonio was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison for his role in transporting illegal aliens inside a tractor trailer. On July 5, 2018, Carreon pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens.