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Charged was Stephen Shipps, 67, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Shipps was arrested this morning and will be appearing in federal court for his arraignment via Zoom at 1pm today.

HSI Canberra provided Australian authorities with details on the possibility of narcotics smuggled into Australia concealed as bananas from Brazil. The container was identified and inspected by the ABF on Sept. 21 and held for further investigation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

In FY 2019, ICE arrested individuals with more than 1,900 convictions and charges for homicide, 1,800 for kidnapping, 12,000 sex offenses, 5,000 sexual assaults, 45,000 assaults, 67,000 crimes involving drugs, 10,000 weapons offenses, and 74,000 DUIs. ICE continues to target criminal aliens and other public safety and national security threats every day.

According to court documents, between 2014 and 2020, Ihor Radionov, 51, of Alpharetta, Georgia, co-conspirator Vladimir Volgaev, and a co-conspirator residing in Ukraine, conspired to export defense articles out of the United States, including gun barrels and slides, without a license or prior written approval from the United States Department of State.

Stephen Scott Meals, 39, a resident of Corpus Christi, pleaded guilty to the charges on Feb. 20. He was further ordered to register as a sex offender and to serve the rest of his life on supervised release following completion of his prison term, during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet.

ICE officers in Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan and Texas, conducted the enforcement actions Oct. 19 through Oct. 23, focusing on aliens subject to removal who pose a threat to public safety. More than 70% of aliens arrested had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges at the time of arrest.

Pursuant to the court’s order, Adelanto, which is maintained by a federal contractor, released more than 250 criminal aliens back into communities – a decision the agency continues to warn could lead to unnecessary victimization by recidivist criminals. The forced reduction is now complete and the current population at the facility is approximately 465.

Austin Hsu, 46, of Issaquah, Washington, was charged by criminal complaint, unsealed today after his initial appearance, in the Western District of Washington with one count of wire fraud. He made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian A. Tsuchida.

Lazaro Benito Rocha, 27, a resident of Odom, Texas, admitted Oct. 22 that he had responded to an ad on Craigslist advertising a “good time” with a teenage girl. He continued communicating with whom he thought was a 14-year-old female, which soon escalated into conversations of an explicit sexual nature via text messaging.

Keith Prescott Gace, a resident of Sante Fe, Texas, was sentenced Oct. 21 in the Southern District of Texas to 30, 20, 20 and 10 years for the production, distribution, receipt and possession convictions respectively.

Daniel Ellsworth Janssen pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography Oct. 22 in the Southern District of Texas.

ICE ERO officers encountered a residence in Laredo, Texas used to house illegal aliens, also known as stash houses, resulting in the apprehension of 32 undocumented aliens Thursday.

ICE can now expedite the removal of certain aliens thanks to a recent order issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Sept. 30, 2020.

The awareness campaign will educate the public on the consequences of counterfeit and other black-market vapor products and provide tools and resources to report illegal sales to law enforcement. The campaign will include social media, digital resources, and a toolkit to help inform adult consumers about the additional risks associated with suspect vapor products.

Donovan Pham Nguyen, 34, of Orange, pleaded guilty this afternoon to one count of impersonation of a federal officer.

The agency will continue to vet students who gained new employment through OPT for compliance with their nonimmigrant status. Any identified leads will be reviewed for potential future enforcement.

The center will be staffed with law enforcement officials from HSI and across DHS, as well as subject matter experts and support staff from 16 DHS components — all focused on the “4 Ps” of the center’s mission: prevention, protection, prosecution and partnerships.

The nationwide, weeklong immigration enforcement activity, which concluded Oct. 9, focused on targeting and arresting individuals in sanctuary cities.

This is a joint Government of Brazil-ICE investigation with significant support from the ICE Biometric Identification Transnational Migration Alert Program (BITMAP) program and Interpol Brasilia.

On Sept. 28, the Prince William County Police Department arrested Edras Onel Vasquez Perez, 25, an unlawfully present Honduran national, for assault on a family member. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an immigration detainer for Vazquez with the PWMRADC.

ICE officers assigned to field offices in Baltimore and Washington D.C. conducted the enforcement actions Oct. 3 through Oct. 9.

ICE’s enforcement operation, which took place Oct. 5 – 9, targeted aliens subject to removal who were arrested for crimes but were released by state or local law enforcement agencies, despite having active immigration detainers in place.

ICE officers assigned to field offices in Seattle, Denver, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C. conducted the enforcement actions Oct. 3 through Oct. 9.

Arsen Khumaryan, 41, of Glendale, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt has scheduled a January 28 sentencing hearing, at which time Khumaryan will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

Marcus Ryan Howell, a resident of Lake Jackson, Texas, was sentenced Oct. 13 in the Southern District of Texas to 151 months in federal prison for two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.