News Releases and Statements

A multi-count indictment was returned yesterday against five Syrian family members from Jacksonville, charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and to make false statements to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"A citizen of China, who last resided in Bayside, Queens, N.Y., was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to 18 months for operating a credit card ""bust-out"" scheme that defrauded financial institutions of more than $200,000. The case was investigated by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) along with a number of other agencies."

A federal jury on Wednesday found Hector Almedina, 25 of Orlando, guilty of conspiracy to import heroin, importation of heroin, conspiracy to possess heroin with intent to distribute, and possession of heroin with intent to distribute. The case was investigated by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Orange County Sheriff's...

ICE HSI special agents arrested Homer Lee Tims, whom a federal grand jury on April 27, 2011, indicted for receiving, possessing and distributing suspected child pornography.

Timothy E. Whitington, 44, who has been in custody since his arrest in late December 2010, faces a statutory sentence of not less than 15 years and up to 30 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to a lifetime of supervised release.

"U.S. ICE's Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) announced Wednesday the addition of Internet safety to the curriculum of all public schools in Puerto Rico and the initiative ""Navega Protegido,"" where students who have received Internet safety orientations by ICE HSI agents..."

John Dennis Tan Ong, 37, of Burnaby, Canada, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act, a law designed to prohibit the export of military articles, including M-4 rifles, which are commonly used by the U.S. military, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

"Henry Saravia, 21, also known as ""Flaco,"" a member of the MS-13 gang, was sentenced today to two years in prison for threatening to injure a victim in connection with a gang-related home invasion in Washington in 2009. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)."

3 suspected members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang have been indicted on federal charges of conspiring to commit murder in the aid of racketeering for allegedly gunning down a Bay Area man last year near a Daly City, Calif., bus stop.

Michael Bonsignore, 44, of Dingmans Ferry, Pa., was charged with production, distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography between March 2007 and April 2011. Allegedly, Bonsignor produced child pornography videos and then distributed them over the Internet.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday began using the Secure Communities program in the following seven Oklahoma counties: Beckham, Custer, Ellis, Jackson, Roger Mills, Texas and Woodward.

Erick Garcia-Sandobal, 29, a Honduran citizen and native, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 87 months in federal prison for being an aggravated criminal alien found in the United States without permission after deportation.

"When asked why she participates year after year in a grueling bicycle trek known as the Police Unity Tour, Special Agent Ellen Pierson, with ICE HSI says, ""It's not about riding a bicycle for 250 miles. I believe with the right training anyone can do that. It's about knowing that another law enforcement officer won't be going home to their family.."

In a summary of more recent child exploitation cases in Connecticut, ICE HSI acknowledged the dedicated professionalism of the investigating agents and the successful prosecutions that have resulted in significant penalties for those who engaged in this vile behavior.

Eighteen individuals, including four employees of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DMV), were indicted Friday for document fraud as a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Corey James Loftin, 23, of El Cajon, Calif., was taken into custody at his residence early Friday where agents executed a federal search warrant, seizing four computers, various computer accessories, a pair of binoculars, a modified child's doll and children's underwear.

A federal grand jury here has indicted the president of a Pleasanton, Calif., university on 33-criminal counts, charging her with an array of violations, including visa fraud, money laundering and alien harboring, as a result of a two-year investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A key figure in a large-scale maritime human smuggling organization and three alleged accomplices made their initial appearances in federal court here Monday to face charges after a multi-agency law enforcement operation Friday, that began with the discovery of an abandoned vessel on a San Diego County beach and culminated with the arrest...

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted 17 convicted sex offenders who failed to register with the Puerto Rico authorities after traveling to Puerto Rico from the continental United States.

Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) returned $5,400 to an 84-year-old Portland-area woman victimized by Quebec-based telemarketing con artists, who called impersonating her grandson pretending to be in desperate need of cash.

An Israeli national wanted on financial fraud charges totaling $1.9 million in his native country was deported this week by officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Hector Aleman Lemos, 31, of Flushing, N.Y., the chapter leader of a violent international street gang in New York, was arraigned Friday in federal court on a superseding indictment charging him with murder, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A 54-year-old El Salvadoran national being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) passed away late Thursday evening at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, Ga.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday began using a federal information-sharing capability as part of the Secure Communities program in the following 15 Alabama counties: Autauga, Baldwin, Blount, Chilton, Elmore, Escambia, Etowah, Jefferson, Lee, Limestone, Marshall, Mobile, Morgan, Tallapoosa, and Tuscaloosa.

Federal agents executed two search warrants here Friday morning and arrested Gifford Chang, 44, of Honolulu in connection with an ongoing fireworks smuggling investigation tied to a deadly explosion in a storage bunker earlier this month in Waikele Gulch. The agents were with U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)...