News Releases and Statements

The HSI Orlando office recently honored fallen HSI Task Force Agent (TFA) Miguel Martínez-Ortiz during Running 4 Heroes. Martínez-Ortiz, a member of the Puerto Rico Police Department was a TFA for HSI San Juan and a 28-year veteran of law enforcement. He passed away on April 24, 2020, after contracting COVID-19 while on duty.

Martin Rosales-Rodriguez, 20, of Rogers, Ark., will also be required to complete ten years of supervision following his release.

Maria Guadalupe Chavero-Jimenez, 30, is accused of taking money from Banco Santender, Mexico. According to Mexican authorities, in 2016, bank officials reported a total of $1.6 million pesos, approximately $85,000 U.S. dollars, had been taken from a bank vault. The bank launched an internal investigation and learned that Chavero-Jimenez, who had access to the vault, had allegedly taken the money.

Celio Alexander Serrano-Trejo, 34, an MS-13 gang member, was removed from the United States via an ICE Air Operations charter flight and transferred into the custody of Salvadoran law enforcement authorities.

In June 2000, a magistrate in Oaxaca, Mexico issued an arrest warrant for Arsenio Victor Balderas-Martinez, who is suspected in the March 6, 2000, shooting death of a family member. If convicted, Balderas-Martinez faces a sentence of 35 years in prison.

Matthew Owens, 42, has been charged by criminal complaint with smuggling and the receipt in interstate commerce of misbranded drugs and the delivery thereof for pay.

Chaunta A. Bashir, a.k.a. “taytheonly,” 26, of Chino, agreed to plead guilty to one count of production of child pornography, according to a plea agreement filed Monday in United States District Court. A hearing where Bashir will enter his guilty plea is expected to be set in the coming weeks.

Consistent with the agency’s protocols, the appropriate agencies have been notified about the death, including the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

Criminal organizations continue to try to smuggle fraudulent, mislabeled, and unauthorized COVID-19 related products, such as purported anti-viral products, personal protective equipment (PPE), and test kits across the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border.

Michael Diaz-Calderon, 51, from Washington State, was charged May 6, 2020, by a U.S. District Judge.

Leonel Campos-Valdez and Francisco Vasquez-Cruz are both citizens of Mexico and in the United States illegally. Both men were charged with unlawful delivery of methamphetamine, laundering a monetary instrument and unlawful possession of methamphetamine and booked into the Jackson County Jail in Medford, Oregon.

Since the start of the pandemic, HSI and other law enforcement agencies have seen a significant increase in criminals attempting to capitalize and profit from the fear and anxiety surrounding the virus, including the sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and medical equipment and illicit online sales and trade importation violations of products claiming to be treatment options.

Following an investigation by ICE’s HSI in New York, Melvin Martinez, 38, was arraigned Tuesday in the Eastern District of New York on an international cocaine distribution conspiracy charge.

Seven leaders of a drug trafficking organization distributing crack cocaine and methamphetamine throughout Indiana County, Pennsylvania were arrested and charged federally with drug trafficking, following an investigation by the FBI, ICE's HSI, Indiana County District Attorney’s Drug Task Force, Southwest Pennsylvania Safe Streets Task Force, Indiana Borough Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

Amir Dianat, 55, and Kamran Lajmiri, 42, both Iranian nationals, were charged with violating U.S. export laws and sanctions against Iran in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Special Agents from ICE's HSI in Detroit, seized approximately 48 kilograms of cocaine on April 29.

Alexander Mentol Zinnah, 56, arrived in Liberia escorted by ERO officers on board an ICE charter removal flight and was turned over to Liberian law enforcement authorities.

Following an investigation by ICE’s HSI and subsequent prosecution from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the EDNY, Yong Min Choe, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conceal and harbor illegal aliens by employing them at his 7-Eleven franchise in Brentwood, New York.

In March and April 2020, CBP officers at the Port of Nogales Mariposa Crossing observed an increase of imported products in demand due to the current COVID-19 related shortages. Special agents began investigating how and where these products we attempting to make their way into the United States.