News Releases and Statements

ERO Boston officers encountered the Brazilian national in the town of Milford, Massachusetts. ERO Boston determined that the individual was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to nine years of incarceration by a criminal court in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in June 2017.

ERO officers in Hartford discovered that the unlawfully present individual was wanted since May 2022 by law enforcement authorities in Westmoreland, Jamaica, on charges of murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

The man, identified by law enforcement authorities as affiliated with the 18th Street Salvadoran criminal gang organization, is wanted on charges of aggravated extortion and participation in a terrorist organization by Salvadoran law enforcement in Guazapa, El Salvador.

Moshe Michael Imel, 53, of Owings, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two federal charges of production of child pornography involving two minor victims.

This web-based system provides a fully automated, online capability to request verification of bond eligibility, make cash immigration bond payments, and send electronic notifications to cash bond obligors.

An investigation conducted by HSI Washington, D.C. resulted in a 19-year federal prison sentence, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for Chad Michael Lehofer, 37, of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Acting Special Agent in Charge for HSI Kansas City Taekuk Cho and U.S. Attorney Steven Russell announced that Bartolo Roman-Tapia, 23, of Mexico, was sentenced on April 19, 2023, in federal court in Omaha for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine following an HSI probe.

The Brazilian national is currently charged with carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, and possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card.

Adrian Duran-Estrada, 39, of Tucson, was also ordered to pay a $200 special assessment and a $20,000 money judgment. Duran-Estrada pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

According to court documents, Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillen, 49, and her husband, Adrian José Velásquez, 43, accepted and laundered over $136 million in bribes from co-conspirator Raúl Gorrin Belisario, a Venezuelan billionaire businessman who owned Globovision news network.

A recent ERO Baltimore operation apprehended two unlawfully present noncitizens who were convicted of sex offenses in Maryland.

On March 14, David Daniel Gallegos, 21, of Pomona, California, allegedly applied for admission into the United States from Mexico via a vehicle lane at the San Luis Port of Entry in San Luis.

The Colombian national is currently charged in Suffolk Superior Court with felony rape; felony assault and battery of family or household member; and assault with a dangerous weapon. An immigration detainer was lodged with the Suffolk County Jail but was not honored.

Officials flew Eduardo Rocha Dos Santos, 41, a citizen of Brazil, from Massachusetts to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where he was turned over to the proper authorities.

Ernesto Gaona-Gonzalez, 59, of Mission, was charged with attempting to smuggle a noncitizen. On April 18, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nadia S. Medrano found Gaona-Gonzalez to be a danger to the community and a flight risk and ordered him to remain in custody pending further criminal proceedings.

Taiwan business organization DES International Co., Ltd. (DES), and Brunei business organization Soltech Industry Co., Ltd., each pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.

The training is part of a comprehensive initiative launched in 2021 to teach critical infrastructure stakeholders in the Houston area to identify and report malicious cyberactivity to law enforcement.

DHS and ICE's HSI, alongside partners with the U.S. Departments of Justice, Commerce, Treasury, and State announced today several international actions against Nazem Ahmad, an individual sanctioned by the United States under the GTSR for his involvement with the terrorist organization Hizballah, as well as against several other individuals involved in Ahmad’s global criminal organization, that utilized a web of businesses to benefit Ahmad and helped him to continue to provide Hizballah access to U.S. and international financial markets.

On April 13, Maximino Pichardo, a 37-year-old citizen of Nicaragua, was flown via an ICE Air operations charter flight from Alexandria International Airport in Alexandria, Louisiana, to Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua, Nicaragua, and transferred to local law enforcement authorities.

In September 2019, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China entered the United States as a nonimmigrant and failed to comply with the terms of his admission. He was initially encountered by ERO Boston officers while being held in custody in Rhode Island on federal securities fraud charges in October 2019.

Jaime De Jesus Gomez Hernandez, 37, was flown from Eppley Airfield Airport in Omaha, Nebraska, to Alexandria International Airport in Alexandria, Louisiana, April 12 on a flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit.

ERO Boston Fugitive Operations Team officers issued an immigration detainer for the Dominican fugitive following his arrest for unlicensed operation of a vehicle by the Springfield, Massachusetts, Police Department and after an international law enforcement background review revealed the citizen of the Dominican Republic is wanted for homicide in his home country.

A flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit brought Orlando Orellana Calix, 38, from Eppley Airfield Airport in Omaha, Nebraska, to Alexandria International Airport in Alexandria, Louisiana, April 12. On April 14, Orellana Calix was flown from Alexandria International Airport to Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, where he was transferred to Honduran authorities.

On April 13, a federal judge sentenced Nestor Alan Garcia, 28, of Monterrey, Mexico, to serve 144 months in prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release.

Loredana Angel, 34, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court April 13 to felony charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and illegal reentry of an alien. Daniel Rostas, 30, pleaded guilty Wednesday, and Legenda Rostas, 28, pleaded guilty March 1 to the same charges. Angel and Legenda Rostas told authorities that they are sisters and that the Rostas are married.