ICE consists of three directorates to accomplish the agency’s mission, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Management and Administration (M&A).
ICE's primary mission is to promote homeland security and public safety through the criminal and civil enforcement of federal laws governing border control, customs, trade and immigration.
Catch up on ICE’s most popular news stories from the week ending March 25, 2016
ICE executes its mission through the enforcement of more than 400 federal statutes, focusing on preventing terrorism, immigration enforcement and combating transnational crime.
Share
Search Help:
The displayed items are limited to the latest 1,250 news releases that match your filter criteria. Please try narrowing your filter criteria by date, topic or location if you do not find the news release you are seeking.
Immigration detainers serve as a legally authorized request, upon which a law enforcement agency may rely, to continue to maintain custody of an alien for up to 48 hours so that ICE may assume custody for removal purposes. Pursuant to ICE policy, all ICE detainers are submitted with an accompanying administrative arrest warrant or warrant of removal depending upon the circumstances of the individual case.
Josue Gamaliel Vidal Quintanilla, 28, who teaches mathematics at Shandin Hills Middle School in San Bernardino, was arrested Wednesday morning by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) during the execution of a search warrant at his residence.
Leonidas N. Mavrogenis, Jr., 62, of Salem, Massachusetts, was sentenced to five years in prison for distribution of child pornography, it was announced by Michael Shea, acting special agent in charge, ICE's HSI Boston and Scott W. Murray U.S. attorney for New Hampshire in a New Hampshire federal court Sept. 22.
Officers with ICE transferred 59 Mexican nationals, serving prison sentences for drug convictions in the United States, to their home country Wednesday.
David Keith Wills, 68, a previous resident of Rockport and South Padre Island, was sentenced to life in federal prison and was ordered to pay $172,000 in restitution to the victim along with $85,000 in fines for multiple counts of sex trafficking, enticement of a child and conspiring to obstruct justice. A federal jury convicted Wills, the founder and part owner of Global Blue Technologies, Oct. 8, 2019.
Under the 287(g) program, ICE has 77 jail enforcement model agreements in 21 states and 73 warrant service officer model agreements in 11 states.
Andres Bermudez, 37, of Palmdale, allegedly supplied methamphetamine to the “Stealthgod” crew, was named in a criminal complaint filed Sept. 18. An affidavit in this case outlines how Bermudez allegedly supplied methamphetamine to the “Stealthgod” drug trafficking organization and details negotiations involving transactions of 30 pounds and 40 pounds of methamphetamine. Bermudez is currently a fugitive sought by federal authorities.
ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive, agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases. Fatalities in ICE custody, statistically, are exceedingly rare and occur at a fraction of the national average for the U.S. detained population.
Soto-Ubaldo was first arrested by the NYPD in June 2018 on local charges in Queens. At that time, ICE lodged an immigration detainer, but he was released without notification to ICE. Less than two months later, he was rearrested, and ICE lodged another immigration detainer, and he was once again, released into the community to reoffend.
On Sept. 11, the National Criminal Court of Spain convicted Inocente Orlando Montano, 78, a retired Salvadoran military officer, and sentenced him to 133 years and three months for his role in the 1989 murder of five Jesuit priests during the 12-year Salvadoran civil war.
Cristina Godinez, 36, of San Antonio, Texas, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to an information charging her with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin.
William Coleman, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 186 months in prison and five years of supervised release. In February 2020, Coleman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and nine counts of sex trafficking. Coleman has been in custody since his arrest Dec. 23, 2018.
Alexander Nathan Barter, a resident of Joaquin, Texas, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and ordered to submit to a lifetime of supervised release for attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and distribution of child pornography Sept. 17 by U.S. District Judge Michael Truncale. He pleaded guilty to the charges Dec. 20, 2019.
Mahdi Mohammed Hashi, 31, a citizen of Somalia, was removed by ICE’s ERO Chicago Field Office via an ICE Air Operations charter flight without incident. Once in Somalia, ICE officers transferred custody of Hashi to local authorities.
Samuel Aaron Leonard was arrested July 2, in Vancouver, Washington, just outside the home of the 14‑year-old girl he had spent months enticing online for sexual abuse.
On Sept. 2, a federal grand jury indicted Kention Obryan Johnson, 35, and Sergio Trinidad Carvajal, 30, for conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking of children. HSI special agents arrested the defendants in Dallas on Sept. 9; their court documents were unsealed Sept. 16.
Andres Rafael Viola, 36, an Argentine citizen residing in Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in February 2020 to sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.
The IPR Center, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) as well as CTAM, the industry marketing organization, today announced a multi-layered partnership designed to strengthen innovation and collaboration within the organizations’ collective content protection efforts.
Jose Francisco Quintanilla Granados, a 27-year-old illegal alien from El Salvador, was flown from the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, to the Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, on a charter flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit. Upon arrival, he was turned over to officials from El Salvador’s Civilian National Police (PNC).
Operation “Black Phoenix” resulted in seven indictments that were issued earlier this year by a federal grand jury. The indictments charge a total of 25 defendants, 18 of whom were arrested this morning, and four of whom were already in custody.
ICE’s ERO lodged detainers with the Baltimore County Detention Center on unlawfully present Salvadoran nationals Wilson Art Constanza-Galdomez, 21, and Wualter Orellana- Hernandez, 19, and unlawfully present Honduran national Jonathan J. Pesquera-Puerto, 19.
Savantis Solutions, LLC, (formerly Vedicsoft Solutions, LLC and Vedicsoft Holdings, LLC) an Edison, New Jersey based corporation involved in consulting, technology and staffing, utilizing primarily foreign nationals in the United States pursuant to H1-B visas, agreed to resolve allegations that the company violated immigration and employment regulations concerning continuous employment and wage requirements.
Due to the continued precautions related to COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will extend this policy for an additional 60 days. The expiration date for these accommodations is now November 19, 2020.
