News Releases and Statements

This transfer is the first of its kind from the United States to a foreign ally for the express purpose of assisting Ukraine, and the second time the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture has made confiscated Russian assets available for Ukraine — having provided $5.4 million in forfeited funds last year to the State Department for the support of Ukrainian war veterans. The confiscated funds are being transferred to Estonia since under current authorities, the facts of this case do not allow for a direct transfer to Ukraine.

ICE, a component agency of DHS, working in close coordination across the Department including with CBP, continued to facilitate removal flights of single adults and family units February 12 -18.

Deportation officers assigned to the ERO Laredo suboffice removed Alma De La Pena-Sanchez, 54, from the United States to Mexico on Feb. 15.

ERO Baltimore apprehended a 23-year-old noncitizen who was convicted of an assault in Maryland in 2022.

Officials removed 110 packages from the vehicle with a total combined weight of 72.05 kilograms (158.8 pounds). The packages contained blue pills with “M30” markings, and the initial investigation determined the pills contained fentanyl.

ERO Boston apprehended an unlawfully present citizen of Guatemala Feb. 6 who is facing child molestation charges in Providence, Rhode Island.

HSI International Operations Assistant Director David J. Magdycz, and Haiti Minister of Justice Emmelie Prophete-Milcé, signed a memorandum of cooperation at HSI headquarters in Washington D.C., Feb. 13, to formally establish the Haiti Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit.

ERO Boston arrested a Brazilian national Feb. 9 in Saugus who’s being sought by law enforcement authorities in Brazil for failing to serve a three-year, nine-month prison sentence that followed his conviction of commercial theft/receiving stolen property.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership met with members of the American Immigration Council today.

MTC met with agency leadership as part of the agency’s ongoing commitment to engage with the private sector.

Dinero Devon Washington, 46, of Phoenix, further pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport noncitizens on Sept. 7, 2023.

ERO Boston arrested an unlawfully present Brazilian national charged with six counts of assault and battery with a firearm in Massachusetts and one count of a similar charge in Connecticut.

ICE detainee Irguin Joel Padilla-Castro, 26, a Honduran national, was captured the same day of his early morning escape from the ICE detention facility in central Louisiana.

Each year, HSI Kansas City presents the partnership award to a group that fosters and facilitates cooperation between agencies.

Josue Adan Lemus-Lara aka Fenix, 39, of Esquipulas, Guatemala, was convicted on all charges in a maritime cocaine trafficking conspiracy following a weeklong jury trial in November 2023.  

Between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31, ERO New Orleans conducted targeted operations with assistance from law enforcement partners in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana, arresting noncitizens identified as public safety or border security threats.

ERO Baltimore arrested an unlawfully present Guatemalan noncitizen who was convicted in 2018 of prostitution and human trafficking charges in Prince George’s County.

Carl Stephen Smith Jr., 33, of Green Cove Springs, faces a minimum mandatory penalty of five years and up to 20 years in federal prison. Smith has remained in custody since his arrest on Jan. 31, 2023.

ICE, working in coordination with DHS and CBP, facilitated removal flights, including single adults and family units to Bangladesh, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico,  Feb. 5 – 9.

ERO Houston, with assistance from ERO Mexico and the SAFE Task Force, removed Jose De La Cruz Segura-Rojas, a 41-year-old unlawfully present Mexican national, from the United States on Feb. 8. Segura-Rojas is wanted in Mexico for domestic violence.

ERO Boston apprehended un unlawfully present Salvadoran national and registered sex offender Jan. 26 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The apprehension of this Portuguese sex offender represented one of five arrests that ERO Boston made as part of a recent national immigration enforcement effort.

The DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking and the Blue Campaign provided updates on victim-centric policies and procedures to the Crime Victim Committee.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership and Department of Homeland Security Office of Partnership and Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs met with Mayor Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio this week.

ICE's ERO officers in the Salt Lake City office with operations in Utah, Nevada, Montana and Las Vegas arrested six fugitives in Moab Feb. 7 during an enforcement operation.