News Releases and Statements

Abel Airam Franco Garcia, 22, of Sonora, Mexico previously plead guilty to smuggling goods from the United States.

Orville Andrew Pernell, a 32-year-old Jamaican citizen was apprehended by ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agents in Savannah, Georgia following an extensive investigation and multinational manhunt April 4.

According to court documents, on Dec. 15, 2024, Mirna Luna, 38, attempted to cross at the Brownsville/Matamoros port of entry into Mexico.

Antonio Espinoza Zarate, 55, also known as “El Gato,” and his son, Francisco Javier Espinoza Galindo, 31, were arrested and charged in U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

Mikhail Gouldson, 36, of Paterson, was charged on March 10 at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in a five-count indictment with one count of dealing in firearms without a license, one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, one count of possession of machine guns, one count of possession of unregistered firearms and one count of attempted trafficking in firearms.

On Feb. 25, HSI special agents executed a search warrant at an apartment in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In one bedroom, agents recovered a loaded pistol with an extended magazine containing 19 rounds of ammunition.

According to court documents, around 2022, agents with ICE Nashville, FBI, and DEA began investigating large shipments of counterfeit fentanyl-laced pills that were inscribed “M30,” methamphetamine, and marijuana that someone was shipping to Tennessee and approximately 16 other states from California.

Anderson Morales-Calderon, 19, and Ever Morales-Calderon, 25, were arrested and charged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas with aiding and abetting the possession of a firearm as undocumented aliens.

Shem Wayne Alexander, 35, of Port of Spain, Trinidad, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

According to court documents, Victor Hugo Diego-Avellaneda, 39, was attempting to leave the U.S. and enter Mexico at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry on Jan. 19. He made a negative declaration regarding possession of weapons, ammunition, and currency.

Keith Octavio Rodriguez Padilla, a prolific firearms trafficker, was sentenced in federal court Jan. 13, to 19.5 years in custody for his role in supplying weapons and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition to the Sinaloa Cartel.