News Releases and Statements

A sealed indictment was returned Jan. 25, and partially unsealed upon the arrests of the following 12 individuals: Petronilo Sanchez-Jimenez, 42, Norma Leticia Silva-Garcia, aka Norma Sanchez, aka Norma Rocha, 38, and Sandro Alvarez-Maldonado, 35, all of Edinburg, Texas; Armando Olmedo-Trevino, 47, Maria Herrera, 34, John Castillo, 31, Ricky Garibaldi, 46, Oscar Garza-Perales, 28, all of Wharton, Texas; Donna Simkins, 45, Tracy Howard, 47, Christian Russo, 39, all of Houston; and Cristobal Ochoa, 48, of Falfurrias, Texas.

A citizen of El Salvador pleaded guilty Friday to transporting illegal aliens for profit through Mississippi following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

A Mexican married couple was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for using their daughters' border crossing cards to smuggle dozens of young girls into the United States, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Rigoberto Bautista-Villanueva, a Honduran citizen with lawful permanent resident status in the United States, was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for conspiracy to transport 100 or more illegal aliens and two counts of transporting illegal aliens.

Five Los Angeles-area residents have been indicted for operating a human smuggling scheme that relied largely on non-Spanish speaking African-Americans, in a calculated attempt to try to reduce the risk of detection and prosecution, to transport loads of illegal aliens from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Los Angeles area.

Alex Campbell, a suburban massage parlor owner, was convicted in federal court on Monday of multiple crimes against four foreign women whom he mentally and physically abused while forcing them to work for him between July 2008 and January 2010.

The ringleader of an alien smuggling organization faces life in prison after five people were killed during a head-on collision in 2004.

Mohamed Farooq Husain, a former resident of Alamogordo, N.M., is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens within the United States. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents investigated a scheme that involved a conspiracy to assist illegal aliens of Middle Eastern decent to obtain...

A federal grand jury has indicted the owner and seven other individuals linked to a local Korean nightclub, The Blue Moon, for allegedly operating an interstate prostitution scheme involving Asian women, many recruited overseas, who worked as "hostesses" at the club to repay their travel and living expenses.

Mahendar "Mike" Singh pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to violate the federal sex trafficking laws following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI. Singh admitted recruiting teenage girls to provide sex services throughout Sacramento and the Bay Area in exchange for money and drugs.

The Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center's (HSTC) reach is vast. This past spring, the Center played an integral role in an INTERPOL-sponsored anti-human trafficking initiative in Accra, Ghana, called Operation Bia II. This operation resulted in the rescue of 116 children, all of whom were forced to work in the country's fishing industry...

A Mexican man was sentenced on Monday to 24 years and four months in federal prison for holding for ransom the aliens he had violently hijacked from other alien smugglers. This sentenced was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

Deme Nikqi, of Peje, Kosovo, known by various aliases including 'Hektor Kelmendi,' has been extradited to the United States from Albania to face charges related to his leadership of an international human smuggling network.

A Pakistani citizen was sentenced today in the District of Columbia to 50 months in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), often referred to as the Pakistani Taliban, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Ramon Vasallo, 48, and Marlene Vasallo, 49, both Cuban nationals, were also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following their release from prison.

Four South Texas residents were sentenced on Thursday to federal prison for conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens in a case involving three aliens that were struck and killed by an oncoming vehicle on a dark road in Duval County, Texas on June 28, 2011 when they were going to get food and water.

The ICE HSI-led San Diego Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) successfully executed four federal residential search warrants, two vehicle search warrants, eight criminal arrest warrants, and nine administrative arrests on Nov. 16.

A former Sacramento, Calif., couple, Mahendar Singh and Helen Jean Singh, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges stemming from a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into allegations they recruited teenage females and forced them to work as prostitutes.

A 43-year-old Mexican national was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Wednesday for alien smuggling that resulted in the death of nine illegal aliens, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson, Southern District of Texas.

A Guatemalan national, Miguel Angel Vargas-Cordon, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for alien smuggling and harboring in violation of the Mann Act. Vargas-Cordon transported an illegal alien minor with the intent to engage in illegal sexual conduct. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted ICE's Homeland Security Investigations.

Manuel Enrique Zelaya-Rodriguez, who was found guilty for sex trafficking a 15-year-old girl, was sentenced Wednesday to more than 15 years in prison following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Zelaya-Rodriguez is an illegal alien who will be subject to deportation after serving his sentence.

A Texas man and woman pleaded guilty on Monday for their roles in trafficking Mexican females for compelled service at local bars and restaurants through force, fraud and coercion.

Hak Tung Lam, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to encourage and induce aliens to illegally enter and reside in the United States.

Two Mexican nationals were sentenced Monday to 10 and seven years in jail respectively for harboring illegal aliens for profit and aiding and abetting and transporting illegal aliens for profit, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) offices in Washington, D.C., and Phoenix.

A Miami Gardens, Fla., woman, Judith Moody, was sentenced Monday to more than eight years in prison after she pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling illegal aliens into the United States following an investigation led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Miami.