News Releases and Statements

An investigation conducted by HSI Baltimore field office and DOD OIG, DCIS Mid-Atlantic field office led to En-Wei Eric Chang pleading guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, related to the export of defense materials to Iran.

Fredi Zagala-Servin, 40, of Kaufman, was sentenced Feb. 7 to 97 months in prison for being a longtime leader and organizer of a human smuggling organization that smuggled hundreds of undocumented noncitizens from Laredo to San Antonio inside semitractor-trailers.

According to court documents, Armando Leonardo Moreno aka Cholo, conspired with other TCO members on or around Sept. 13, 2021, to kidnap a subject from an El Paso stash house.

Sally Renae Smith, 54, was sentenced Feb. 6 to 292 months in prison. She pleaded guilty July 21, 2022.

Partnership between law enforcement organizations ultimately helps to further protect and serve the communities we live and work in.

ERO Boston arrested a Brazilian sex offender Jan. 25 who was recently convicted of assault and battery and indecent assault and battery.

ICE's ERO San Antonio field office apprehended eight unlawfully present noncitizens with pending charges or convictions for murder, homicide or assault against children during a nationwide law enforcement effort from Jan. 16 to Jan. 28.

Malik Dillard, 47, received the sentence Feb. 2 at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk.

Jonathan Follis, a 46-year-old resident of Corpus Christi, pleaded guilty to the charges Feb. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

According to UNICEF, more than 200 million individuals alive today have undergone FGM/C, which refers to procedures that injure the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Authorities arrested six suspects on felony drug-related charges — all within one hour of activity.

The operation targeted 16 unlawfully present foreign nationals and resulted in 10 arrests.

Transparency efforts between the federal government and non-governmental organizations is vital to providing an understanding and awareness of the agency’s operational policies and procedures.

Timothy Brian Jackson, 44, of South Charleston, admitted that he created and intended to distribute counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl or other opioids.

Moctar Ahmadou Gouroudja Ahmadou, a 26-year-old citizen of Niger who is in the United States on a nonimmigration student visa, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for unlawfully transporting and possessing a firearm, which violates the terms of his visa. Ahmadou was convicted March 14, 2023, following a jury trial.

The 42-year-old Mexican citizen, who also holds Guatemalan citizenship, unlawfully entered the United States at an unknown location, on an unknown date prior to December 2004, without being inspected or admitted by a U.S. immigration official.

All arrests took place in the assigned ERO Seattle states of Alaska, Washington and Oregon, with criminal convictions made by courts in Washington and Oregon.

ERO Baltimore apprehended an undocumented Salvadoran noncitizen convicted of illegally possessing an unregistered firearm. Deportation officers from ERO Baltimore’s Criminal Apprehension Program arrested the 24-year-old member of the notorious MS-13 street gang Jan. 10 at his residence in Silver Spring.

ERO Harlingen apprehended six unlawfully present noncitizens with pending charges or convictions for murder, homicide or assault against children during a nationwide law enforcement effort from January 16-28.

ERO Philadelphia removed Thalles Mendes Ribeiro, a citizen of Brazil with a final order of removal, to Brazil on Jan. 26. Mendes is a foreign fugitive wanted by law enforcement authorities in Brazil for false imprisonment and rape.

ICE, working in coordination with DHS and CBP, facilitated removal flights, including single adults and family units to Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Mauritania, Mexico, Peru and Senegal, Jan. 29 – Feb. 2.

Roberto Esquivel, 25, will remain in custody pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

Jaiprakash Gulvady, 51, of Land O’ Lakes, pleaded guilty to procuring citizenship or naturalization unlawfully, misusing evidence of citizenship or naturalization, making false statements in a passport application, and using a passport secured by false statements.

Alonso “Galladita” Pineda-Torres, 52, of Colombia, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine on vessels subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

ICE's ERO officers apprehended 26 unlawfully present noncitizens with pending charges or convictions for murder, homicide and assault against children during a nationwide law enforcement effort that ran from January 16 to 28.