News Releases and Statements

Cesar Avila, an illegal alien from Honduras, was convicted Wednesday of hostage taking and other related crimes after an investigation conducted by the Houston Police Department (HPD) by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Six people were sentenced Thursday for their roles in a conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens. Over the course of the 10-year conspiracy, HSI special agents seized about 400 aliens being transported by the organization. The organization transported an estimated 40 aliens per month.

Mario Carballo, a citizen of El Salvador, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Tuesday for transporting illegal aliens for profit through Mississippi, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

"Two operators of the ""Welcome to Hell"" stash house pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to harbor aliens. The guilty pleas resulted from an investigation involving local law enforcement officers and federal authorities that were sent to a residence in Edinburg, Texas, May 2 after a 911 caller indicated he was being held against his will..."

A former U.S. ICE Top 10 Most Wanted fugitive, Veniamin Gonikman, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for crimes related to an international conspiracy to compel women to work in exotic dance clubs in metropolitan Detroit.

The ringleader of an alien smuggling organization, responsible for the death of five people as a result of a head-on collision involving a semitractor trailer with six illegal aliens in the cab, was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in federal prison following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Three individuals were sentenced to federal prison Tuesday for their roles in an alien smuggling scheme that resulted in the death of a 70 year-old woman when an SUV carrying smugglers and illegal aliens crashed through the victim's home. The investigation was conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations.

A Mexican couple was indicted Tuesday for conspiring to harbor aliens and alien harboring. Authorities discovered more than 100 undocumented aliens in three separate buildings on the property. One building was chain-locked and several undocumented aliens who were locked inside the building were treated for injuries.

An interstate prostitution ring based in Indianapolis that was operated by three brothers - all illegal aliens - that transported dozens of women on a weekly basis has been dismantled and the brothers sentenced.

A member of the West Coast Crips gang, Jonathan Jamar Sanders, was sentenced Thursday to 236 months in federal prison on charges stemming from a joint sex trafficking probe that linked him to a scheme involving a 15-year-old girl he recruited to work as a prostitute.

Four Mexican nationals, including three suspected torture victims, were rescued from a human smuggling drop house Wednesday by special agents from ICE's Homeland Security Investigations assigned to the Phoenix Border Enforcement Security Task Force Drop House Response Group, with support from the Phoenix Police Department.

A 27-year-old southwest Texas man, Fernando Ochoa, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison Monday for alien smuggling that resulted in the death of a Honduran national. The case was investigated ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Border Patrol.

A Marietta, Ga., woman, Luz Gutierrez, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to entice individuals to cross state lines to engage in prostitution and to encourage and induce aliens to reside unlawfully in the United States, following an investigation by ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI and the Cobb County Police Department.

"Mahendar ""Mike"" Singh was sentenced Thursday to nine years in federal prison on charges stemming from a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI that linked him to a scheme to sex traffic teenage girls. Singh admitted to recruiting teenage girls to provide sex services in exchange for money and drugs..."

Two defendants were charged Wednesday with smuggling a group of illegal aliens from Houston to Los Angeles that left one of the aliens dead of lobar pneumonia in a ditch at a rest stop outside Vega, Texas.

Five of the six people arrested last week following the fatal rollover in Palmview, Texas, made their initial court appearances Tuesday and were ordered detained pending further criminal proceedings, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

Two illegal aliens, Denis Sosa and Luis Enrique Solorio, were sentenced to federal prison Thursday for conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens after an investigation conducted by the Houston Police Department (HPD) and ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Two leaders of a sex-trafficking organization, who forced Mexican females to work at Houston-area bars and restaurants, were sentenced Monday to federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

Two leaders of a Houston-based alien smuggling organization and seven of their associates were sentenced Tuesday to federal prison for their roles in an alien smuggling operation that resulted in the death of an illegal alien. The investigation was led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Four individuals, including a husband and wife, have been arrested and charged in connection with allegedly running a sophisticated human trafficking operation in and around the Boston area. These arrests are the first under a new human trafficking law in Massachusetts, which went into effect Feb. 19, 2012.

Donald Murray Gallaher of Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada has been sentenced to one year in federal prison after pleading guilty to alien smuggling as the result of an investigation conducted by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A federal grand jury in Denver on Friday indicted two men, Kizzy Kalu and Philip Langerman, for charges related to human trafficking. Kalu and Langerman were involved in a scheme making false representations to foreign nationals, to the State of Colorado, to the United States, and to others to obtain money under false and fraudulent pretenses...

Lorena Martinez, the leader of a large-scale human smuggling organization based in Corpus Christi and Portland, Texas, that specialized in smuggling Brazilian nationals into the United States, was sentenced on Tuesday to 42 months in prison. The investigation was led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Corpus Christi Police...

The leader of an alien smuggling organization and six others have pleaded guilty for their involvement in a conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal aliens.

Two men pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiracy to commit hostage taking, while seven others entered guilty pleas to conspiring to harbor illegal aliens, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.