News Releases and Statements

A Honduran man, who was in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), died Sunday at the Memorial Hermann Northeast Hospital (MHNH) in Humble, Texas. An autopsy is pending to determine his cause of death.

The international operation resulted in a total of 25 arrests and 53 search warrants executed in three countries. Over the course of the operation, law enforcement seized 5,300 firearms and components, 167 explosives/ordinances and 15 silencers from the transnational criminal organization (TCO).

As part of Operation Limelight USA, HSI is conducting similar public outreach at international airports throughout the U.S. The U.S. program was designed by HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, basing it off the United Kingdom’s Operation Limelight which is conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service and Border Authority. 

Reid Derrick Witcher, 45, was arrested after authorities executed a state search warrant at his Odessa home. According to the filed federal criminal complaint, Witcher said he has been downloading and viewing child pornography for about 10 years, and he possessed about 100,000 images of child pornography contained in electronic media.

While conducting import trade enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers detected an anomaly during an x-ray scan of a container of beach chairs from China. Officers also observed that the original security seal lock was replaced with another lock. Officers discovered four large black duffel bags inside the container. The bags contained a combined 125 bricks of a white powdery substance that field-tested positive for cocaine.

Larry Earnest Tillery (father), 69, Judy Kay Tillery (mother), 62, and Brian Tillery (son), 46, all from Beaumont, Texas, pleaded guilty June 25, for their roles in a massive gambling operation.

Aliens arrested during this operation are from the following seven countries: Mexico (58), Guatemala (6), Honduras (6), El Salvador (2), Kenya (1), Ecuador (1) and Vietnam (1).

During this enforcement surge, ICE deportation officers made arrests in the following Texas cities: Rio Grande Valley (9), San Antonio (7), Laredo (20), and Austin/Waco (16). Of those arrested, 46 were men; six were women.

IMAGE stands for ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers. As part of this agreement, STEC USA and Tranor Industries, have pledged to maintain a secure and stable workforce and curtail the employment of unauthorized workers through outreach and education.

U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III sentenced Narada Walls, age 38, of Salisbury, Maryland, today to 12 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to possess and to distribute fentanyl and fentanyl analogues.  Fentanyl analogues are chemical compounds designed to have effects similar to fentanyl and can be just as deadly.  Judge Russell also ordered that Walls must forfeit anything of value seized during the investigation, including $29,650 in cash.

Amilcar Aguilar-Hernandez, 23, from El Salvador; and Douglas Amaya-Arriaga, 18, and Carlos Perez-Rodriguez, 18, both from Honduras, were recaptured June 20. They remain in ICE custody pending their transfer to U.S. Marshals Service custody for federal prosecution for their escape.

Houcine Ghoul departed the U.S. from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York Wednesday evening, escorted by ERO officers. He was turned over to Tunisian authorities Thursday, upon his arrival in his home country.

A combined 15,582 bricks, totaling more than 35,000 pounds of a white, powdery substance testing positive for cocaine were discovered during the multi-agency enforcement operation. Authorities seized the cocaine as well as $56,330 found on the vessel believed to be proceeds from illegal smuggling activities.

After a two-week trial, David John Telles Jr., was sentenced Tuesday to serve 302 months in prison by a U.S. District Judge for sex crimes involving a minor.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) awarded Friday a 10-month contract for technical equipment and supplies to continue identifying fraudulent familial relationship claims made by individuals entering or attempting to enter the United States using rapid DNA testing.

Evan H. Vollerthum, 35, of Naples, Florida, was arrested Monday for aggravated human trafficking and attempted commercial sexual exploitation of a child.

There is an inherent increase in risk to personnel and bystanders when ICE officers and agents must go out into the community to proactively locate these previously detained criminal aliens. ICE commends our local law enforcement colleagues who work to minimize that risk by cooperating with ICE to apprehend criminal aliens at the time of their release from local custody.

William Thomas Glarner IV, a.k.a. “Billy,” 34, pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has scheduled a September 23 sentencing hearing, where Glarner will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison.

Five New York based employers have partnered with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York on Wednesday, May 15 by joining the agency's employment compliance program IMAGE, or "ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers."

Operation Limelight USA is a program designed by HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit to bring awareness to FGM and deter its practice through the education of the public about the relevant risks

HSI’s preliminary numbers reflect that nearly 1600 counterfeit items were seized June 7th and June 13th during their investigative efforts. These items included but were not limited to t-shirts, hats, jerseys, cell phones cases, cell phone ‘pop sockets’, event passes, and tickets.

Marquis Holmes, 28, from Katy, Texas, pleaded guilty June 13 to one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by means of force, fraud and coercion; two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution; and two counts of enticing and coercing another to travel in interstate commerce for prostitution.