News Releases and Statements

The new biometric information sharing capability is now in every Florida county, helping federal immigration officials identify and remove convicted criminal aliens.

Today, U.S. ICE began using a new biometric information sharing capability in Knox County that helps federal immigration officials identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime.

Local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fugitive operations teams arrested 72 foreign nationals in the Chicago area during a two-week-long enforcement action targeting immigration fugitives and criminal aliens.

Agents initiated an investigation after the pre-Columbian artifacts were seen on eBay.

ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton returned dozens of Paleozoic Era fossils that were sent through the mail from China and seized after an ICE investigation.

A criminal alien in Houston, who had been previously deported to Mexico in 2008, was sentenced in federal court on Friday to eight years in prison for illegally re-entering the United States. This sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) late on Friday deported a gang member wanted in Mexico for a 2009 murder and aggravated theft associated with the murder.

AK-47s, pistols and other rifles along with drugs, digital scales and other drug paraphernalia were seized Thursday by ICE agents in Detroit.

Dozens of ancient artifacts were seized in an investigation into an international smuggling ring that sold antiquities via the Internet. ICE returned many of the seized items to El Salvador in a special ceremony.

The operation targeted foreign-born criminals and fugitives in violation of immigration laws. The arrests were made in the Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati metro areas.

ICE and its law enforcement partners arrested 596 criminal aliens in the biggest 3-day targeted operation focusing on at-large criminal aliens in the southeastern United States.

A 3-day enforcement operation targeting violent criminal gang members in the Chicago area resulted in 28 arrests.

Rene Salazar, 20, of Dallas, was sentenced April 19 by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, Northern District of Texas, to 20 years in prison. Salazar was convicted at trial in January on two counts of assaulting a federal officer, and one count of possessing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

The criminal complaint charges Janoy Garcia-Prieto, 22, and Renier Perez-Hernandez, 24, both of Miami, with alien smuggling. If convicted, they each face between five and 15 years in prison.

ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton issues statement in response to Washington Post article on agency enforcement efforts.

Officers escort man arrested during operation targeting criminal aliens and immigration fugitives. Most of those arrested had criminal records in addition to being in the country illegally.

Bildnis in der Laube (Portrait in the Garden), a 1930 painting by Swiss artist Paul Klee, was reported stolen to the Art Loss Registry in 1989 and reported by an art gallery in Canada.

A 3,000-year-old wooden sarcophagus, seized in Miami, was returned to Egypt in a ceremony at the National Geographic Society after a 2-year international investigation.

Juan Jose Lopez-Juarez, 36, a Mexican national, was turned over to Mexican authorities March 4 at the Laredo, Texas, port of entry.

A silver pendant with the image of Peter the Great was among 200 items stolen from Russia's State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in 2006. ICE recovered the pendant in Seattle and returned it to Russia.

A federal grand jury in the Western District of Kentucky returned an indictment March 1 against Gualberto Telles-Guerrero, aka Jeremy Romo, 26, on charges of illegally re-entering into the United States after having been previously deported, which is a felony.

Of the 49 arrested, 20 were arrested based on their prior criminal histories; some of their convictions and arrests include: carrying a concealed weapon, drug possession cocaine, fourth degree sexual assault, felony fraud, multiple OWIs (Operating while Intoxicated), and possession of methamphetamine. Of the 20 criminal aliens arrested, 18 are illegal aliens and two are U.S. permanent residents (green card holders) whose previous criminal convictions make them eligible for deportation.

In Operation Cross Check, a three-day enforcement surge in Texas, ICE and its law enforcement partners arrested 284 at-large criminal aliens.

Jose Medrano-Zuniga was arrested by DRO officers assigned to the Criminal Alien Program (CAP), which oversees the screening and identification of criminal aliens. Based on his criminal and immigration history, Medrano will be held until he can be removed from the United States to Mexico.