News Releases and Statements

A federal grand jury in San Francisco Tuesday indicted a suspected Bay Area gang member for allegedly attempting to kill three special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) when they went to his residence in May seeking to arrest him on racketeering charges.

A U.S. Army contract translator was re-sentenced Wednesday for illegally possessing national defense documents, and using a false identity to procure his U.S. citizenship and gain access to classified military materials.

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) - in close partnership with the Wisconsin police departments of Milwaukee, Greendale and Greenfield - arrested 14 men during an enforcement operation Monday. This is the latest local effort in an ongoing national HSI initiative to target foreign-born gang members.

"A Mexican businessman, Luis Ernesto Flores Rivera, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiring with the owners of a Los Angeles-area toy wholesaler to launder thousands of ""narco dollars"" for drug trafficking organizations in Mexico."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers in the local field office deported a record number of aliens so far this fiscal year - more than 68,000 - with less than three months remaining in the year.

Ten men were arrested Wednesday in east Texas following a lengthy investigation into drug trafficking in the Henderson, Texas, area.

Julio Alberto Chapa, the leader of a local drug smuggling organization, was sentenced Wednesday to over 21 years in federal prison for smuggling 2,771 pounds of marijuana into the United States from Mexico via small fishing vessels.

A total of 31 individuals, including nearly two dozen criminal aliens, were taken into custody during an enforcement operation carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Diego last week.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents along with the Somerset County Prosecutors Office (SCPO) and Raritan Borough Police Department arrested three men Monday for manufacturing and possessing fraudulent government documents.

A former Delta Airlines ramp agent at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, who attempted to obtain a suitcase containing more than $614,000 worth of illegal drugs off of a flight from Mexico City, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal district court to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances.

Tomas later admitted he lost the money gambling.

A HSI victim assistance coordinator found a way to help after the ill boy from an impoverish Mexican neighborhood was turned away from medical care.

Chambers was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to conspiracy to export cocaine.

Rogelio Mauricio Harris, a former Navy sailor who worked in military law enforcement, is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Monday afternoon on charges he attempted to smuggle more than four pounds of methamphetamine out of the United States packaged to resemble a well-known brand of candy bar.

Christopher Garcia, 33, of Clovis, N.M., a former sergeant with the U.S. Air Force, is charged with possessing child pornography. He is temporarily detained pending an arraignment and detention hearing scheduled for Monday.

Two individuals pleaded guilty and four others were sentenced in Newark federal court in connection with their roles in a large-scale identity theft scheme.

Salvador Portillo, a citizen and national of El Salvador and a member of the MS-13 street gang who was previously convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Fairfax County, Va., pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally reentering the United States after having been previously deported.

Solomon Owusu Asare was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles in connection with a scheme to ship stolen cars from the United States to countries in West Africa for resale, and for aggravated identity theft related to his obtaining a United States passport...

Ulrich Felix Anton Engler, a German man wanted by law enforcement authorities in Germany for using his Florida financial firm to defraud numerous investors of more than $100 million in a pyramid scheme, was arrested last night by special agents and officers of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ICE's Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO).

HSI special agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport first learned of the stolen Nok statues in April 2010 after receiving information from French customs officials.

Andro Telemi of Sun Valley, Calif., pleaded guilty July 26 to one count of attempting to export defense articles from the U.S. to Iran without a license or approval from the U.S. Department of State, which is in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.

ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents along with the New Jersey State Police and the N.J. Division of Criminal Justice arrested Aaron N. Debarardnis of Cape May, N.J., who used a file sharing network to distribute images and videos of child pornography.

Three Mexican nationals were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for conspiring to produce, transfer, possess and sell false identification documents in Tulare County, following a probe by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Today, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents seized several sandstone and bronze statues.

A Heber Springs, Ark., family and three others have been indicted for distribution of synthetic narcotics, known as bath salts, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).