News Releases and Statements

He is wanted by Brazilian authorities to serve a 12-year sentence for aggravated murder.

Marco Antonio Vigil Argueta illegally entered the United States on an unknown date and at an unknown location.

Nasser Salman, 60, was arraigned in federal court May 4, on charges that he fraudulently obtained more than $400,000 in COVID-relief loan funds on behalf of three companies.

ERO Boston arrested an unlawfully present citizen of the Dominican Republic in Chestnut Hill on April 27. The Dominican national was previously convicted in U.S. federal court of possession and distribution of fentanyl.

HSI recognized the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office and SRI Tech Solutions, Inc. for enrolling in a federal employment compliance program during two recent ceremonies.

On April 28, a judge sentenced Bryan Ross, 26, of Ellsworth, to 25 years in federal prison for producing and distributing child exploitation material following an HSI Kansas City probe.

Jubenson Domenique, 29, was identified as the main instigator of the disturbance and a decision was made for three officers to remove him from the aircraft.

A jury convicted Robert Nicholas Hansen, 43, of Hospers, of one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine; two counts of distribution of methamphetamine; and one count of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm (one gun) on Nov. 3, 2022, following a joint HSI investigation. On May 18, 2022, a jury convicted Hansen of two counts of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm (17 guns).

An investigation conducted by HSI Charleston resulted in a conviction for a former police chief for sex trafficking and obstruction charges. A federal jury convicted Larry Allen Clay Jr., 57, of Fayetteville, West Virginia, for sex trafficking a minor and obstruction of justice after a four-day trial.

ERO Boston arrested a foreign fugitive in Worcester, Massachusetts, on May 2 who is wanted by Brazilian law enforcement authorities for a drug trafficking conviction.

The operation was initiated by the Kansas City Heartland Anti-Trafficking Rescue Taskforce and focused on identifying and rescuing victims who were being trafficked for sexual exploitation. HSI, with assistance from the Independence Police Department, arrested 22 individuals and rescued two trafficking victims.

DHS and ICE announced today that employers will have 30 days to reach compliance with Form I-9 requirements after the COVID-19 flexibilities sunset on July 31, 2023.

Henry Licona-Larios, a 34-year-old unlawfully present Honduran national, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 41 months in prison for conspiracy to harbor unlawfully present noncitizens. Licona-Larios pleaded guilty to the charges on May 24, 2022.

On May 2, Jesus Alberto Olivarez, 32, admitted to attempting to export 5,680 rounds of assorted pistol ammunition.  

On April 26, 2023, a federal grand jury in the Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging Shuyi Mo, a citizen and resident of the People’s Republic of China, with 31 counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C., Section 1343; one count of a wire fraud conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C., Section 1349; and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C., Section 371.

U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle sentenced Cruz Miguel Aguina, 40, to eight months in prison following a guilty plea to immigration fraud. Aguina was also judicially denaturalized as a U.S. citizen.

During the first half of FY 2023, DHS increased removals and returns to 225,483, up from 170,896 over the same period in FY 2022. The FY 2023 figures includes nearly 66,000 removals, 48,381 of which were conducted via ICE removal flights and are in addition to CBP total southwest land border Title 42 expulsions, which reached 1,079,507 in that same timeframe.

Armando Cesar Zacarias, 37, is accused of starting a fire and robbing the Itapuense Municipality in Paraguay.

Officers with ICE's ERO Seattle removed Omer Abdi Mohamed, 38, a citizen of Somalia convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, to his home country April 28.

Daniel Alan Lewis, 53, of Hemet, California, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. As part of his plea, Lewis further admitted that in November and December 2021, he passed numerous counterfeit savings bonds at banks in both the Houston and Brownsville areas.

Law enforcement conducted more seizures than any previous operation, including 117 firearms, 850 kilograms of drugs that include 64 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics, and $53.4 million in cash and virtual currencies.

During Child Abuse Prevention Month, and after a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, HSI San Juan brought back its iGuardian Summit, a summit focused on keeping children and teens safe from online predators through education and awareness. In its seventh presentation, the event reached more than 1,700 public school students between the ages of 12 and 16 from the Caguas regional district.

The investigation revolved around subjects attempting to smuggle narcotics aboard a vessel traveling from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. Marine interdiction agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped the vessel off the coast of Loiza, Puerto Rico, and arrested the subjects, two of whom jumped off the vessel.

U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana sentenced Denny Fuentes, 48, from Splendora, Texas, to 15 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.

Victor Manuel Romero-Diaz, 40, of El Salvador, received his conviction at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond April 14.