News Releases and Statements

ICE's HSI in Corpus Christi, Texas, led the year-long investigation known as “Operation Done Wrong” with assistance from the following: USMS; CBP, USBP; Corpus Christi Police Department; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; ATF; Texas Department of Public Safety; Kleberg County Narcotics Task Force, and the DEA.

Issuance of these immigration subpoenas is necessary because the SDSO is forced to comply with California’s sanctuary state laws, and therefore cannot cooperate in honoring immigration detainers or requests for non-public information to assist in locating criminal aliens that have been or will be released from custody.

The three defendants were arrested last month after being named in a criminal complaint that alleged a conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. Today’s indictment expands the scope of the alleged scheme and includes new details about the immigration fraud portion of the scheme.

Melvin Antonio Delgado, 35, a citizen of El Salvador, was removed via an ICE Air Operations charter flight without incident. Once in El Salvador, ICE ERO officers transferred custody of Delgado to the Policia Nacional Civil (PNC) of El Salvador, which will pursue criminal charges against him.

ICE uses statutorily-authorized immigration subpoenas to obtain information as part of investigations regarding potential removable aliens. ICE has not historically needed to use its lawful authority to issue these subpoenas to obtain information from other law enforcement agencies as most law enforcement agencies throughout the country willingly provide ICE with information regarding aliens arrested for crimes in the interest of public safety.

Johnson Ortiz, 23, and Regina Ramon, 29, previously pleaded guilty on Sept. 4, 2019, to their involvement in harboring illegal aliens for profit, with Ortiz also pleading to a statutory endangerment enhancement.

Ernesto Gomez-Enciso, 36, of Phoenix, pleaded guilty to two felony counts. In each count, Gomez-Enciso admitted to possessing a sexually explicit video involving a child who was estimated to be less than 13 years of age.

An MS-13 gang member, in the country illegally and wanted in El Salvador for homicide, was arrested last week by ICE's ERO during ongoing enforcement efforts in Michigan and Ohio targeting at-large criminal aliens, illegal reentrants and other immigration violators

Pedro Gama-Alvarez, the leader of a drug organization based in Coahuila, Mexico, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison Tuesday for his role in various smuggling schemes involving drugs, firearms and people.

On Sept. 9, 2019, Dennis H. West, 44, of Atwood, Illinois, pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of minors in 2017 and 2018.

Jose Manuel Castro Orellana, 30, a citizen of El Salvador, was removed aboard an ICE Air Operations Charter flight without incident. Once in El Salvador, ICE ERO officers transferred custody of Castro Orellana to the Policia Nacional Civil (PNC) of El Salvador who will pursue criminal charges against him.

On Jan. 25, 2019, ERO officers filed a detainer with Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) for Yoni Cruz-Lopez, 24, a resident of Mt. Prospect, Illinois, and a citizen of Guatemala, after his felony conviction for driving under the influence (DUI). Cruz-Lopez has three DUI convictions (2015, 2016 and 2019).

February 6 marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. ICE, the FBI, and HRSP of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, all members of the HRVWCC, join U.S. and foreign government partners, non-governmental organizations, and local communities to call for the eradication of the practice.

Daniel Haughton, 45, of Brandon, was sentenced on one count of possession and one count of transportation of child pornography before U.S. District Court Judge Tom Lee.

Santos Ceferino Amaya-Cruz, 35, an active MS-13 gang member, has been removed from the U.S. on two prior occasions, most recently in 2017. He is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.

Hector Beltran, 44, a resident of Edinburg, Texas, was convicted on July 22, 2019, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine. Beltran was a former Edinburg Police Department K-9 officer.

Mayra Chaver, 32, of Honduras, pleaded guilty to assisting an illegal alien to evade arrest. The three others charged in relation to the crime – Mexican citizens Agustin Gutierrez-Gonzalez, 33, and Ivan Dario Puga-Moreno, 30; and Elena Ruiz, 35, of Corpus Christi – had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport illegal aliens into the United States causing death or serious bodily injury. Gutierrez-Gonzalez and Puga-Moreno were both illegally present in the United States, and pleaded guilty to illegal reentry.

On Feb. 3, ICE's ERO arrested Marissa Martinez, 29, also known as Wilson Yovani Martinez or Maritza Martinez, an unlawfully present Guatemalan national after she was released by Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail despite a lawful immigration detainer.

Martin Estrada-Barela was arrested by the NYPD Jan. 17, 2019, on the charges of attempted rape, unlawful imprisonment, and attempted assault. Estrada-Barela was subsequently arraigned and remanded into the custody of the NYCDOC.

According to data recently released from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, in the two years since the implementation of California’s State Bill 54 (SB54), the sheriff’s department has rearrested more than 400 of those they released on whom ICE had active detainers.

ICE's HSI Little Rock and Jonesboro special agents arrested 13 people and rescued three victims following an underage sex trafficking operation in Northeast Arkansas Jan. 30, 2020.

HSI Orlando special agents also worked with the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation organized crime section on human trafficking enforcement activities and outreach, as part of January’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month.