News Releases and Statements

Thomas O'Brien of Portsmouth, R.I. was sentenced Monday to 72 months in federal prison followed by lifetime supervised release for receiving and possessing more than 1,100 images and videos of child pornography.

Twelve individuals were arrested for the illegal distribution and sale of unregistered and misbranded pesticides sold out of multiple locations in Manhattan, to include Chinatown. These charges stem from an investigation led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with the assistance ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)...

Small, 30-foot fishing boats try to make their way to shore along the California coast. ICE HSI agents typically find two things onboard ?? thousands of pounds of dope or more than a dozen illegal aliens.

To date, 142 domain names have been seized by the IPR Center, 82 of which have been forfeited for intellectual property right infringement.

Lawrence Labbe, 46, of LaGrange, Maine, pleaded guilty on Feb. 25, 2011 to unlawfully transporting child pornography in interstate commerce using a computer.

This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hosted a 'Partnerships for Public Safety' roundtable discussion with approximately 15 law enforcement leaders from across the country to discuss how communities are safer when local agencies partner with ICE.

A local environmental waste recycling company, Executive Recycling Inc., its chief executive officer, and its former vice president of operations were indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday on charges of wire and mail fraud, and environmental crimes.

A Los Angeles-area man made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday on drug trafficking charges following his arrest at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for attempting to smuggle nearly five pounds of methamphetamine through airport security, all of which concealed inside snack food bags in his backpack.

Five senior managers of the former IFCO Systems, N.A., a Houston-based corporation, pleaded guilty to hiring and employing unauthorized aliens at IFCO plants nationwide between January 2003 and April 2006.

Jeff Coon, 36, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., possessed child pornography videos on two computer hard drives and two disks at his residence in Niagara Falls in April 2009. Some of the children shown in the videos were prepubescent or minors under 12-years-old. Some of the videos portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.

Special agents with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in close partnership with local law enforcement, arrested 25 individuals during a week-long operation that ended late Tuesday. This is the latest local effort in an ongoing national ICE initiative to target foreign-born gang members.

Bryan Ross Spears pleaded guilty Thursday to receiving videos depicting child pornography over the Internet, following an investigation by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

A Florida orange juice manufacturer and three Tampa Bay area counties are partnering with ICE to reduce fraud and the hiring of illegal workers. Cutrale Citrus Juices USA, Inc., and the Boards of County Commissioners for Hernando, Pasco and Citrus counties officially became IMAGE partners at a signing ceremony in Tampa Thursday.

A previously convicted sex offender from Huntington Beach, Calif., pleaded guilty Thursday to production of child pornography and agreed to serve a 26-year prison term for filming an 8-year-old girl engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The owner of a Los Angeles-area immigration consulting business and one of his employees are expected to make their initial appearance in federal court Thursday for their alleged role in a scheme involving hundreds of Chinese nationals who sought asylum in the United States based upon phony claims of religious persecution.

An indictment charging five former airline employees for their role in drug smuggling operations out of U.S. airports was announced today following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to the plea agreement, in September and November 2010, Larry W. Warner, Jr., 33, of Joppa, Md., posted advertisements in an online website seeking girls' underwear for him to use in an act which Warner described in a sexually explicit manner.

Jose Sarinana-Placencia, the alleged leader of a drug smuggling organization accused of moving thousands of pounds of marijuana between Maricopa, Ariz., and the Phoenix metropolitan area was arrested following a major multi-agency enforcement operation led by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Pinal County Sheriff's Office (PCSO).

In two unrelated immigration cases, two men received substantial prison sentences following their convictions for illegally re-entering the United States after being previously deported, announced U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.

Two former jail officials and one alleged member of the 'Raza Unida' prison gang have been sentenced to prison for conspiring to bribe public officials, announced United States Attorney Jose Angel Moreno on Wednesday.

A Maryland man was sentenced to two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to produce and transfer Maryland driver's licenses and identification cards without lawful authority.

The former owner of a Massachusetts-based asbestos abatement training school was sentenced to more than seven years in a federal prison Tuesday in a case investigated jointly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Efrain Espinoza-Quintana, a Mexican citizen wanted in his native country for his involvement in a fight in May 2006 in which he is accused of killing a man with a handgun, was turned over to prosecutors from the Mexican Attorney General's Office at the border crossing here Tuesday by agents from ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

A Mexican citizen was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison Tuesday following his guilty plea in a violent human smuggling case investigated by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). David Alejo-Ortiz led a violent group of alien smugglers who, in May 2008, physically, verbally and sexually abused at least 23 hostages in Phoenix.

Two women have pleaded guilty to marijuana trafficking crimes. The investigation is being conducted by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).