May 5, 2005

12 FOREIGN NATIONAL CHILD SEX PREDATORS ARRESTED IN ICE-LED MULTI-AGENCY OPERATION IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY

SAN JOSE – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, accompanied by members of the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force, arrested 12 sexual predators in southern Santa Clara County Wednesday in a day-long operation targeting convicted alien sex offenders who now face deportation from the United States.

The foreign nationals taken into custody yesterday include Juan Carrasco, 33, a Mexican citizen convicted in 2004 for committing lewd and lascivious acts with his 11-year-old stepdaughter. Carrasco was located at the Santa Clara jail where he was already serving time for failing to register as a sex offender. Also arrested was 60-year-old Martin Salgado-Rivera, a Mexican national with a criminal history that spans three decades, including convictions for the rape and molestation of several minors, among them his own daughter.

Yesterday’s arrests are part of Operation Predator, a comprehensive ICE initiative aimed at those who prey on children, including human traffickers, international sex tourists, Internet pornographers, and foreign national predators whose crimes make them deportable. More than 400 of the 5,500 child sex offenders arrested by ICE nationwide as part of Operation Predator have occurred in northern California.

“We will continue to work closely with our local law enforcement counterparts to identify, arrest, and prosecute those who prey on and exploit the children in this community,” said Charles DeMore, special agent in charge for ICE investigations in the Bay Area.

One of ICE’s local partners in this effort is the SAFE Task Force, based out of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department. In addition to the Sheriff’s Department, the Task Force is made up of representatives from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, as well as the Milpitas and Morgan Hill police departments. The Task Force’s goal is to track down convicted sexual predators who have re-offended or violated other laws.

The targets for yesterday’s operation were chosen by ICE agents, in coordination with local authorities, using information from the Megan’s Law and other sexual predator databases. ICE agents conducted extensive immigration and criminal history checks on those listed, and identified individuals whose crimes make them subject to removal from the United States.

Additional information about Operation Predator is available on the Web at www.ice.gov. ICE encourages the reporting of suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.