Inside ICE: Volume 2, Issue 13

ICE'S "Operation Flash" Arrests 187 Criminals, Fugitives in New England

BOSTON, Mass. – In the largest criminal alien fugitive operation ever conducted by an ICE field office, ICE officers have arrested 187 persons throughout New England, capping a weeklong operation targeting alien fugitives, most with convictions for violent crime.

Operation FLASH (Fellow Law-enforcement Agencies Securing the Homeland) is part of an ongoing effort to identify and arrest fugitive criminal aliens who failed to comply with a removal order from a federal Immigration Judge. The operation was supported by ICE Fugitive Operations teams from six states.

“We initiated Operation FLASH to remove dangerous criminal aliens from our streets,” said Bruce E. Chadbourne, ICE Field Office Director for Detention and Removal Operations in New England. “Criminal aliens have a very high rate of recidivism and often re-victimize the community in which they reside. By finding and removing these fugitives, we are able to greatly enhance the public safety of New England and restore integrity to our nation’s immigration system.”

Many of the fugitives arrested during this operation have a history of violent criminal activity that include rape of a child, rape, arson, assault and battery on a police officer, armed assault, armed robbery, intimidating witnesses and threatening murder. Some examples of those arrested in this operation are:

Carl Brown-Harton, a 42-year-old national of Costa Rica, convicted of threatening murder, assault and battery, larceny and breaking and entering.

Antonio Jesus Fontes, a 53-year-old national of Cape Verde, convicted of assault and battery and threatening to murder.

Kimleang Ke, a 31-year-old national of Cambodia, convicted of armed assault, possession of a firearm, assault and battery and robbery.

Omar Trochez-Mejia, a 50-year-old national of Honduras, convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Stephen Ahlijah, a 45-year-old national of Ghana, determined to be a human rights violator.

Jose Adelino Tavares, aka Joseph Cabral, a 28-year-old national of Portugal, convicted of assault and battery on a police officer.

Soondar Mahadeo, a 48-year-old national of Trinidad, convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, threatening and intimidation of a witness.

Operation FLASH is a combined effort between federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies across New England and beyond coming together to locate and apprehend fugitives. Participating agencies included: ICE Fugitive Operations teams from Baltimore, Md.; Newark, N.J.; New York City, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Hartford, Conn.; Boston, Mass.; Manchester, N.H.; St. Albans, Vt.; Providence, R.I.; Portland, Maine; ICE’s Boston Office of Investigations; ICE’s New England-based Federal Protective Service; the U.S. Social Security Administration; the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles; the Massachusetts State Police Compliance Unit; the Barnstable, Bristol, Essex and Plymouth County Sheriff’s Departments; the Boston Police Department; the Hartford, Conn. Police Department; the Connecticut Department of Corrections; and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.

The arrests made in this operation are a result of ICE’s National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP), which is part of ICE’s ongoing effort to restore integrity to the nation’s immigration system. Last fiscal year, ICE removed a record 160,000 aliens from the country. So far this fiscal year, ICE has removed more than 75,500 aliens from the country, including more than 45,000 criminal aliens.

The aim of the NFOP initiative is to reduce the number of fugitive aliens in the United States. Fugitives are foreign nationals who have been ordered removed by a federal Immigration Judge, but failed to comply with those orders.

Currently, ICE has 16 Fugitive Operations teams nationwide which are designed to identify, locate, and apprehend fugitive aliens for removal from the United States. The President’s budget seeks $8.8 million in enhanced funding in Fiscal Year 2006 to increase the number of Fugitive Operations teams around the country. In Fiscal Year 2004, there was a 62 percent increase in the number of fugitive aliens apprehended by ICE, compared to the previous year.

In addition to the FLASH arrests, ICE’s New England Field Office has arrested 571 fugitive aliens so far this fiscal year. Of the arrests resulting from Operation FLASH, 105 were arrested in Massachusettes, 57 were arrested in Rhode Island, 14 were arrested in Connecticut, nine were arrested in New Hampshire, two were arrested in Vermont, one was arrested in Maine and one was arrested in Baltimore on a referral from Boston. Since these individuals have already been through immigration proceedings, they are subject to immediate removal from the country.

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Inside ICE is an e-newsletter produced by the ICE Office of Public Affairs to inform the public about the mission, operations and activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Please send comments and contributions to Russ Bergeron, Editor.

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