News Releases and Statements

Marius Caldararu, 25, was removed to Romania on Dec. 12 and turned over to proper authorities to face related charges.

ICE, working in coordination with DHS and CBP, facilitated removal flights, including single adults and family units to Central America, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Jamaica, Peru, Uzbekistan and Venezuela from December 18 - 22.

HSI San Juan, along with the Puerto Rico Police Bureau and the U.S. Marshals Service, arrested Shaquille Emmanuel Rivera–De Jesus, one of the fugitives of HSI’s Operation Youngblood executed on Sept. 22, 2023.

U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement named Jennifer Fenton as the Associate Director of ICE OPR, and Angie M. Salazar as the Deputy Associate Director Dec. 19.

CoreCivic and the GEO Group, Inc. each met with agency leadership as part of ongoing conversations between the government and the private sector.

To aid in the consistent implementation of this important national initiative, OPLA has developed a general framework to handle cases in immigration proceedings on the juvenile dockets.

The noncitizen entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location without inspection, parole or admission by an immigration official.

According to court documents, from June 2022 to July 2022, Resto Colón used his computer and cellular phone to receive one or more images of child exploitation materials via the internet depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

ICE's ERO Los Angeles announced today the arrest of 26 unlawfully present foreign nationals during a local enforcement operation that began on Dec. 18, and concluded on Dec. 20.

Daily removals and enforcement returns are nearly double what they were compared to the pre-pandemic average (2014-2019).

Tong Sun, 45, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis, who accepted his plea for possessing child sexual abuse material via his cell phone.

According to court documents, Guadalupe Quezada, 35, of Mesa, Arizona, along with co-defendants Veronica Quezada, 39, also of Mesa, and Elizabeth Miranda Lozano, 39, of Dallas, actively participated in an ongoing conspiracy to bring in, transport and harbor undocumented immigrants into the United States from Mexico from on or about November 2019 through on or about August 2021.

Kahlil Felder, 39, of Southeast Washington D.C., was arraigned on a four-count indictment charging him with possession with intent to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl, and using, carrying and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, among other charges. Felder was ordered detained pending trial.

The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) was one of two El Paso businesses that joined Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) IMAGE, or Mutual Agreement between Government Employers program, Dec. 19.

ICE's ERO El Paso deportation officers removed an unlawfully present El Salvadoran national Dec. 15 wanted in his home country for aggravated extortion.

William Reyes Garcia, 33, of Silver Spring, Maryland, received the 15-year prison sentence at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt on Dec. 5.

HSI Baltimore Special Agents Milton Lynn and Michael Gonzalez and Task Force Officer Thomas Seabolt were presented with the Baltimore County Police Department’s Police Chief’s Award on Nov. 29 at the Baltimore County Police Department Headquarters in Towsend, Maryland.

Following a multi-year HSI investigation into global trade networks, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging Iranian national Hossein Hatefi Ardakani and co-defendant Gary Lam, who worked for a Chinese company, with crimes related to the procurement of U.S.-manufactured dual-use microelectronics for the IRGC ASF SSJO's one-way attack UAV program.

Ronald Jenkins, 42, of Franklin, Virginia, Japree Brooks, 40, of Murfreesboro, North Carolina and Malik Newsome, 30, of Ivor, Virginia, were convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and witness tampering at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ramon Alvarez-Hernandez, 40, of El Salvador, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm. HSI and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case.

The captain and co-captain of a boat that capsized off Imperial Beach during a 2022 smuggling incident, resulting in three deaths, were sentenced in federal court Dec. 14 to 54 and 50 months in prison, respectively.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced today the selections of Daniel A. Bible as the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Executive Associate Director and Russell Hott as the ERO Deputy Executive Associate Director. ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement.

Kenneth Howard Worthy, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 40 years in federal prison without parole.

Pablo Talavera Jr., 36, of Pharr, was sentenced Dec. 14 by a federal judge to serve 18 months in federal prison immediately followed by two years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard opposing arguments regarding the appropriate sentence.

In keeping with standard practice, the United States ensures that all noncitizens without a legal basis to remain in the United States are properly screened for valid protection claims and withholding of removal in accordance with our laws and U.S. international obligations.