News Releases and Statements

While investigating an ICE tip line lead, the ERO San Diego deportation officer worked with U.S. marshals to locate Michael James Pratt, 40, a foreign national on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. Spanish authorities arrested Pratt in Madrid, Dec. 21, 2022; he is being held in Spain pending extradition to the United States.

Benito Arevalo Gochez Ruballo, 47, and Erika Beatriz Rivera Crespin, 35, were removed to their home country via ICE Air Operations charter flight. Both were taken into custody by law enforcement officials shortly after the flight landed in El Salvador where they stand accused.

Arianny Paola Vega-Escalona, 24, and Yubisay Delimar Sandoval Sequera, 32, departed Miami International Airport to their destination of Harlingen, Texas, where they were turned over to authorities in Mexico via the Brownsville port of entry.

Jefferson Ferreira de Almeida, 29, was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol after illegally entering the United States near San Luis, Arizona in 2021, given a Notice to Appear, and subsequently provided a recognizance release pending future removal proceedings in June 2021.

Carlos J. Arreguin, 37, was flown from Chicago on a flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit to the Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas. On the same date, ERO Harlingen escorted him via ground transportation to the border and turned him over to Mexican authorities at the Gateway Port of Entry in Brownsville, Texas, without incident.

Officers with ICE's ERO New York City field office arrested Gazmir Xhurxhi, Jan. 9. Xhurxhi is a noncitizen who overstayed his visa in the United States and is wanted for fraud in Albania.  

Idalia Guzman, a 47-year-old resident of Pharr, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to eight years in prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release.

HSI Baltimore’s commitment to public safety makes a tangible impact on the Eastern Seaboard and 2022 was a year of significant achievements, especially in human trafficking investigations conducted by HSI Baltimore’s Human Exploitation Group (HEG).

Pires de Mello, 26, who had been previously encountered and placed into removal proceedings by U.S. Border Patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, July 26, 2019, was arrested by the Framingham Police Department for unlicensed use of an automobile, Jan. 8, 2022.

Tony “Klownman” Torres, a 53-year-old resident of Harlingen, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 10 years in prison to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Torres pleaded guilty to the charges Nov. 8.

Ascencion Garza Jr., a 63-year-old resident of Hebbronville, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas to possession with intent to distribute approximately 16 kilograms of cocaine.

Edwing Edgardo Ramos-Alvarado, 39, entered the United States at an unknown date and location without being admitted or paroled by an immigration officer.

Tivurcio Serrato Colorado, a 36-year-old unlawfully present Mexican national, was flown from Alexandria, Louisiana, to the Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas on Jan. 4.

Nosuk Kim, 61, of Newport News, was sentenced to 52 months in prison Jan. 5 and ordered to pay a $200,000 fine for evading the assessment of her 2015- and 2016-income tax returns.

Oscar Barrera, 29, was sentenced Jan. 9 to 220 months in prison. Barrera pleaded guilty April 4, 2022, to one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of receipt of child pornography.

Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI Kansas City Taekuk Cho and United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Martin Alonzo Castro, 42, of Fremont was sentenced Jan. 6 in federal court in Omaha for conspiracy to produce and transfer fraudulent documents following an HSI and joint law enforcement investigation.

Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI Kansas City Taekuk Cho and United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Gregory Lukassen, 50, of Omaha, was sentenced in federal court in Omaha for distribution and receipt of child pornography, Jan. 5, following joint HSI investigation.

Zumba-Mejia was convicted in February 2010 for the assault of his 7-week-old daughter. The Westchester County Court convicted Zumba-Mejia of reckless assault – causing serious brain injury to a child less than 5 years old by shaking or impacting the head – and sentenced him to three years’ incarceration.

An investigation led by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore field office resulted in a 45-year federal prison sentence, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for a registered sex offender for the sexual exploitation of two minor girls to produce child pornography. Dennis James Harrison, 40, of Rocky Ridge, received the lengthy sentence Jan. 3 after pleading guilty to sexually exploiting the minors, who were between the ages of 10 and 12 at the time of the abuse.

Darwin Murillo-Morocho, 25, a citizen of Ecuador, entered the United States without being inspected by an immigration officer on an unknown date and at an unknown location. In January 2018, the Multi-Competent Criminal Judicial Unit in the Canton of Yantazza Province, in Ecuador, issued a criminal arrest warrant for Murillo-Morocho for the charge of crime of attempted murder.

Luis Carlos Rodriguez Elizondo, 23, from Monterrey, Mexico, plead guilty Jan. 4 to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute more than 13 pounds of cocaine.

Orlando Gonzalez, 22, from Roma, was sentenced Jan. 4, to 72 months in federal prison followed by three years supervised release. The court found Gonzalez’s actions to be a danger to the community, noting he led law enforcement agents on a 100-mph high speed chase which resulted in a tragic rollover.

According to court documents, Ivan Sanchez-Jorge, 39, of Clearwater, Florida was selected for vehicle inspection by CBP at Eagle Pass on Dec. 3 and gave multiple negative declarations for weapons, ammunition and currency in excess of $10,000.

According to court documents, Jose Jesus Hernandez-Valle, 54, conspired with others to smuggle a 9mm pistol, a .40 caliber pistol, and more than 200 rounds of ammunition and other related firearm accessories into Mexico.

A federal grand jury in Tucson, Arizona, returned a 19-count indictment on Nov. 10, 2022, against 10 current or former southern Arizona residents following a multi-agency investigation which includes HSI, Arizona DPS, ATF, DEA, USMS, and the USPS OIG.