News Releases and Statements

A wreath manufacturing company has become the first business in Maine to sign an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to strengthen hiring practices and to combat the unlawful employment of illegal aliens.

The president of a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., furniture manufacturing business was sentenced Monday to 10 months in federal prison on two criminal counts after a probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) revealed the company hired unauthorized alien workers.

Yuri Izurieta, 41, Anneri Izurieta, 46, and Naver Trading Corp., were charged on Friday with conspiracy to smuggle goods - dairy products that were at times contaminated with harmful bacteria - into the United States, following an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

James Eddy, 34, of Chesapeake, Va., pleaded guilty today to one count of possession of child pornography.

A Florida man was sentenced on Friday to five years and three months in federal prison for leading a Medicare fraud ring that submitted more than $9 million in false and fraudulent Medicare claims for alleged infusion-therapy services.

Shawn Marshal Christiansen, 36, of Great Bend, Kan., is charged with one count of producing and one count of possessing child pornography. The crimes allegedly occurred from April 27, 2009 to Jan. 8, 2010 in Great Bend.

Starting today, users can access information via ICE's mobile website by visiting http://m.ice.gov. The new site creates a better user experience for individuals accessing ICE.gov from portable, handheld devices like the smartphones and tablets.

Ramadan Rama, 40, a resident of Fayetteville, N.C., pled guilty in federal court Monday to firearms trafficking charges, including failure to notify a common carrier of a firearm and exporting defense articles without a license.

The final passenger aboard a Mexico-bound bus pleaded guilty on Friday to failing to declare the 3 million dollars in U.S. currency that was discovered in on-board air mattresses. On Sept. 26, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and ICE HSI agents stopped a southbound commercial passenger bus at the Hidalgo Port of Entry, Texas...

Two key figures in a large-scale narcotics smuggling and money laundering scheme have been sentenced to federal prison, following a long-term investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Special agents with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on Friday returned 1,500 dollars to to a 69-year-old Wabash, Ind., woman who was the victim of telemarketing con artists operating from Canada.

Jack Zimmerman, a 57-year-old man from Irving Texas, was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years in federal prison for one count of enticing a minor and one count of producing child pornography. Zimmerman admitted that he used a cell phone to persuade, induce and entice a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity with him inside his van.

"A total of six defendants charged in two separate and unrelated cases have been sentenced to prison this week for transporting illegal aliens in the ""air dams"" of tractor trailers. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Border Patrol (BP)."

Bryan McCarthy, 32, of Deer Park, Texas, was taken into custody at his home and is charged with one count of criminal infringement of a copyright. He was the operator of channelsurfing.net, which was seized by federal authorities on Feb. 1, 2011, as part of an ongoing HSI investigation into websites that illegally streamed copyrighted sporting telecasts and pay-per-view events.

Twenty-five members and associates of the MS-13 street gang were charged Thursday in a 70-count, superseding indictment in the Eastern District of New York as part of an ongoing investigation by federal and state law enforcement agencies into criminal gang activity in three New York counties.

True identity discovered when his employer submitted proposal for construction work on a Department of Homeland Security facility in Orlando

"Michael Uszakow, also known as ""iced,"" 46, of Houston, Texas, was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay a fine of 2,000 dollars for his involvement in a software piracy conspiracy. The sentence is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)."

Frediberto Pineda, whose true birth name is Samuel Hernandez-Pimental, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Columbia, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and more than 50 grams of crack cocaine and illegal re-entry after deportation. The case was investigated by agents from U.S. ICE...

Two men who investigators believe were operating a marijuana grow house in a rural part of Sullivan County, N.Y., were arrested Wednesday, following an investigation by the New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force.

Steven Neal Greenoe, 37, pled guilty Wednesday in federal court to exporting firearms from the United States without a license and traveling in foreign commerce to deal in firearms without a license, following an international investigation into illegal firearms trafficking and smuggling by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)...

A sealed indictment charging seven Brownsville-area residents with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and/or laundering the drug proceeds was unsealed on Wednesday following the arrest of the defendants.

Robert William Hull, of Nampa, Idaho, pleaded guilty in federal court here Tuesday. Court documents reveal that during November 2010, detectives with the Saskatoon Police Service in Saskatchewan, Canada, conducted an Internet child exploitation investigation involving a Saskatchewan suspect.

An Arizona business owner was sentenced on Wednesday for his part in a scheme to ship sensitive technology items to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed on that country under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Read ICE Director John Morton's memo on priorities for the apprehension, detention and removal of aliens.

Joseph Acevedo-Maldonado, 48, of Utuado, Puerto Rico, was sentenced on Feb. 20 to 25 years in prison for production of videos involving minors engaging in sexual acts produced with the assistance of his wife, Jennise Lopez-Correa. The sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).