News Releases and Statements

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.

Dubbed the matriarch of her narcotics trafficking and distribution empire, Erlinda Ramos-Bobadilla, 62, received the lengthy prison sentence March 28 for her role in the network, which included procuring, planning and arranging acts of violence, including murders, in furtherance of the conspiracy.

According to court documents, Ana Maria Hernandez, 53, portrayed herself to be a USCIS employee and defrauded numerous noncitizen victims and their family members by falsely representing that she would process their immigration applications for a substantial fee.

On April 6, a federal jury convicted Pierre De Romeo Smith of seven charges, including sex trafficking, production of child pornography, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Cecilio Jimenez-Bautista, 26, of Mexico, appeared in federal court April 6 to face charges that he sexually abused a 17-year-old unaccompanied minor he and his brother guided from Tijuana, Mexico, into the United States in June 2022.

Officers from ERO Washington, D.C. participate in the selection course at the Harper-Presgrave Regional Law Enforcement Complex in Harrisonburg, Virginia March 21-23

Aldo Albert Velásquez Asencio, 57, was removed from the United States on March 31.

HSI Kansas City acting Special Agent in Charge Taekuk Cho and U.S. Attorney Steven A. Russell announced that Cristian Yanira Ruiz-Cardona, 28, was sentenced on April 6, 2023 in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska, for use of immigration documents not lawfully issued, false representation of a Social Security number with intent to deceive, and making a false claim to U.S. citizenship.

Officials flew Benito Sanchez-Jimenez, 41, from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana April 5 on a flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit.

Fugitive Justin Robinson, who escaped from the Ray County Jail on the evening of March 27, is back in custody, April 7, due to the unified effort of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City, the Ray County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and a variety of concerned citizens.

Robert Reeves III, 37, of Dallas, received the sentence March 28 for breaking into businesses and stealing cash from bitcoin-related automated teller machines. As part of his sentence, Reeves must also pay restitution in the full amount of the victims’ losses, which totals more than $55,000. 

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.

This new form gives noncitizens the option to update their information online in addition to the existing options of doing so by phone or in-person. It will enable noncitizens to comply with their immigration obligations more easily and improve the accuracy of address information reported to ICE by utilizing address autofill to ensure U.S. Postal Service standardization.

Wilson Nuyila Tita, 47, of Owings Mills, Maryland, received the over-five-year sentence followed by two years of supervised release on April 4 at the U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

Roberto Antonio Garay Saravia is a retired military officer from the Salvadoran Armed Forces, who during his active duty was involved in multiple operations, including the El Mozote Massacre, where more than 1,000 civilian adults and children were killed.

A federal grand jury indicted Davey Hines, 30, of Naperville, on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of theft or receipt of stolen mail, four counts of unauthorized access device fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft in February 2021 for events that occurred between June 2018 and December 2019.