Skip to main content

News Releases and Statements

News Releases and Statements

Search Help:

The displayed items are limited to the latest 1,250 news releases that match your filter criteria. Please try narrowing your filter criteria by date, topic or location if you do not find the news release you are seeking.

December 6, 2019
|Child Exploitation

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Cleveland special agents and partner agencies brought charges against 47 accused child predators in 2019, as part of the agency's ongoing international effort known as Operation Predator. The arrests represented an increase of nearly 10 percent from 2018 and accounted for nearly 20 percent of all of the office’s investigative work. 

December 6, 2019
|Human Smuggling/Trafficking, Child Exploitation
Northern California HSI agents relentless work on criminal investigations resulted in more than 1,000 criminal arrests, according to fiscal year 2019 data. Nationally, HSI agents arrested more than 37,500 criminals.
December 6, 2019
|Narcotics

The opioid epidemic is devastating communities across the United States. Drugs such as fentanyl and others laced with unknown and dangerous substances are destroying lives at an alarming rate.

December 6, 2019
|Operational
HSI's investigative strategies resulted in a record-high 37,547 criminal arrests, almost a 10 percent increase from FY18, as well as the seizure of more than $775 million in currency and assets from criminal proceeds.
December 5, 2019
|Operational

The St. Paul office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) graduated its inaugural class of Citizens Academy students this fall, including 10 metro-area community leaders from various backgrounds.

December 4, 2019
|Human Smuggling/Trafficking, Child Exploitation

The indictment against Rolando Cifuentes-Lopez, 36, states he engaged in this conduct from November 2016 to Jan. 18, 2019. The indictment against Eri Cifuentes-Lopez, 40, states he engaged in this conduct from January 2018 to Jan. 18, 2019. Eri Cifuentes-Lopez is also charged with illegally re-entering the United States. He was removed (deported) from the country Nov. 2, 2005, and was found in the United States on Nov. 20, 2019, without the consent of the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security.

December 4, 2019
|Narcotics

Gregory George Denny, 47, pleaded guilty in August to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

December 3, 2019
|Firearms, Ammunition and Explosives

Omran Ismail, 53, of Burbank, Illinois, purchased four handguns in November 2013 from a licensed firearms dealer in Tinley Park, Illinois.  He then immediately transferred the guns to co-defendant Ola Sayed so that she could smuggle them to Egypt.  The guns were discovered in Sayed's checked luggage at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as she attempted to board a flight to Cairo via London. 

December 3, 2019
|Enforcement and Removal

FOD Marc J. Moore explained that the new ICE facility was actually built in 2010 by the state of Texas to house inmates for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  However, the facility has never been used. 

December 2, 2019
|Narcotics

A Mexican national living in Colorado was sentenced to six years in federal prison Dec. 2, for possession with intent to distribute of nearly 1,400 grams of fentanyl. He was also ordered to forfeit more than $40,000 in cash.

December 2, 2019
|Child Exploitation

Gerardo Fabian Ramos, 41, and of Corpus Christi, 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. While on supervised release, Ramos will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Ramos pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to producing child pornography.

December 2, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

Samayoa Cabrera, a former civil patrol leader, has been charged in Guatemala for his alleged role in more than 150 human rights abuses, including torture, rape and extrajudicial killing, in El Quichè.

December 2, 2019
|Human Smuggling/Trafficking

Kevin Kerr, 32, and Brianna Branch, 30, who pleaded guilty to the charges Aug. 29, were sentenced to 85 months and 70 months respectively. Both will also serve three years of supervised release following the completion of their sentence.

December 2, 2019
|Enforcement and Removal
ICE ERO deportation officers arrested Feliciano Perez-Bautista, 32, on Tuesday, Nov. 26. Perez-Bautista, a twice removed Mexican national who has pending manslaughter and gang assault charges, was released from local law enforcement custody with an active detainer due to Westchester County’s Immigrant Protection Act.
December 2, 2019
|Intellectual Property Rights and Commercial Fraud

The ongoing IPR enforcement initiative targeting fake websites, dubbed Operation In Our Sites, was facilitated by the IPR Center, a joint-task force agency led by ICE, FBI and CBP.

November 29, 2019
|Enforcement and Removal

Hector Moran-Espinoza was arrested April 2, by the Philadelphia Police Department for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion, unlawful contact with a minor-sexual offenses, statuary sexual assault, endangering the welfare of children-parent or guardian commits offense, corruption of minors, indecent assault-without the consent of other person, reckless endangerment of another person, rape by forceable compulsion, sexual abuse of children-photographing, videotaping, depicting on a computer or filming sexual acts, and aggravated indecent assault without consent.

November 29, 2019
|Child Exploitation

Larry James Cline, 31, of Buhl, Idaho, was sentenced on Nov. 19, 2019 in U.S. District Court to 60 months in federal prison followed by five years’ supervised release, for attempted use of interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor, announced U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Cline pleaded guilty on August 22, 2019.

November 27, 2019
|Enforcement and Removal

Arrests took place in the following cities: Richmond (13), Henrico (3), Chester (2), North Chesterfield (2), Chesterfield (1), Petersburg (1), and Hanover (1). ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office all assisted ICE officers during the week.

November 27, 2019
|Enforcement and Removal

Arrests took place in the following cities: Fredericksburg (14), Washington, D.C. (9), Fairfax (6), Falls Church (6), Alexandria (5), Leesburg (5), Manassas (5), Herndon (2), Woodbridge (2), District Heights (1) and Sterling (1). ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office all assisted ICE officers during the week.

November 27, 2019
|Enforcement and Removal
On Oct. 24, 2019, ICE placed a detainer on Osmani Garces-Ortiz, 37, an illegal criminal alien from Cuba, while he was held in Arapahoe County Jail for possessing drugs, criminal trespassing and violating a protection order. In keeping with a recently enacted Colorado law, Arapahoe County Jail could not legally honor the ICE detainer and Garces was released on bond Oct. 28, 2019.
November 26, 2019
|Narcotics, Financial Crimes

The investigation began in 2017 after HSI special agents and TPD officers discovered evidence that drug trafficking organizations were utilizing United Parcel Service (UPS) employees to facilitate the movement of bulk narcotics to destinations throughout the eastern part of the United States, along with the movement of bulk U.S. currency back to the Tucson metropolitan area.

November 26, 2019
|Narcotics

Nestor Burgos, 32, of River Grove, Illinois, pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal drug and firearm charges.

November 26, 2019
|Operational

The purpose of the Teach-In is to encourage employees, businesses, community leaders, sports figures, local personalities, retirees, community volunteers and parents to become involved in education by sharing what they know with a new generation. The adults visit the classroom and talk with students about work, career challenges, hobbies and life experiences. They provide real life insights into work and careers and reinforce the importance of education for success in any occupation.

November 26, 2019
|Operational

More than 14 years ago, the life of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Matthew Brooks and his family was changed forever with the murder of his father.

November 25, 2019
|Enforcement and Removal
During the visit, Assistant Field Office Director (AFOD) Conrad Agagan and Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer Irene Jenkins from ERO Orlando provided Bustamante and Tafur a tour of the ERO Orlando building, an ERO program overview, and stressed the agency's commitment to transparency and working in coordination with the Consulate of Colombia.
Resource

Featured Story Archive

View ICE's featured stories

Resource

Multimedia

View images and videos

Updated: