News Releases and Statements

ERO Philadelphia removed Angel Anibal Alvarado Benitez, a citizen of El Salvador with a final order of removal, on March 22. Alvarado Benitez, 75, is wanted by law enforcement authorities in El Salvador for murder and other crimes.

According to UNICEF, more than 200 million individuals alive today have undergone FGM/C, which refers to procedures that injure the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Russia-affiliated individuals Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, Dmitry Budnik, Valerii LNU (last name unknown), and Nazar LNU were each charged with unlawfully detaining a U.S. national in the context of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

An HSI Space Coast investigation led to the removal of Pedro Paulo Barrientos Nunez, a denaturalized U.S. citizen, to his home country of Chile on Nov. 30, 2023, by ICE's ERO Miami.

Sinisa Djurdjic, 50, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was found guilty by a jury on May 19 after a nine-day trial.

HSI Space Coast special agents, fugitive operations officers with ICE's ERO Miami’s Orlando suboffice, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office’s Volusia Bureau of Investigation, Melbourne Police Department Task Force officers, and members of the Florida Highway Patrol arrested Pedro Paulo Barrientos Nunez in Deltona on Oct. 5.

Guest speakers included Luis Moreno Ocampo, Founding Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court and Former Deputy Prosecutor, Junta Trial in Argentina; The Honorable Beth Van Schaack, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, U.S. Department of State; Eli Rosenbaum, Counselor for War Crimes Accountability, U.S. Department of Justice; Scott Johnston, Section Chief, Human Rights and Democracy, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control; Joseph Zogby, Staff Director and Democratic Chief Counsel, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary; Kimberly Stanton, Democratic Staff Director, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. House of Representatives; and Fredy Peccerelli, Executive Director, Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala.

On July 26, a federal jury in the Northern District of Georgia convicted Mezemr Abebe Belayneh, 67, of Snellville, Georgia, of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship by lying about his role in persecuting teenagers in Ethiopia for their political opinions.

Varfley Dolleh, 56, was flown to Liberia on June 21, via a flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit.

The roster included Sinisa Djurdjic’s name; Djurdjic immigrated to the United States in 2000. HSI discovered that, on various U.S. immigration applications, Djurdjic had denied serving in foreign military and police units.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ross Roggio, 54, of Stroudsburg, arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct and detain the victim at a Kurdish military compound.

Kemal Mrndzic, 50, was charged with falsifying, concealing and covering up a material fact from the U.S. government by trick, scheme or device; using a fraudulently obtained U.S. passport; and possessing and using a fraudulently obtained naturalization certificate and fraudulently obtained Social Security card. Mrndzic was arrested May 17, and following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston before Chief Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley, was released on a $30,000 cash bond.

Aldo Albert Velásquez Asencio, 57, was removed from the United States on March 31.

Roberto Antonio Garay Saravia is a retired military officer from the Salvadoran Armed Forces, who during his active duty was involved in multiple operations, including the El Mozote Massacre, where more than 1,000 civilian adults and children were killed.

Jean Morose Viliena, 50, was indicted March 23 for illegally obtaining a permanent resident card, commonly referred to as a green card, by means of a false statement — specifically that he had not ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people.

Officials removed Hugo Gómez Osorio, 63, to his home country of Guatemala on a flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit March 8. Upon arrival, they turned him over to the proper authorities.

ERO Dallas removed Arnoldo Antonio Vásquez Alvarenga, a 60-year-old citizen of El Salvador who was previously a naturalized U.S. citizen, from the United States.

ICE's HRVWCC, the FBI’s IHRU and the DOJ's Criminal Division’s HRSP joined national and international law enforcement partners and non-governmental organizations today in recognizing the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM.

According to the indictment unsealed Thursday, Jugoslav Vidic, 55, allegedly made multiple false statements in his successful application to become a lawful permanent resident, including falsely stating that his only past military service was in the Yugoslav Army from 1988 to 1989 and omitting his service in the Serb Army of Krajina and its predecessors from 1991 to 1995.

HSI arrested a former high-ranking Somali army officer accused of multiple human rights violations against Somali civilians during the 1980s. Special agents arrested Yusuf Abdi Ali, aka Tukeh, Nov. 17 in Springfield, Virginia for those human rights abuses, which include extrajudicial killing; torture; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; and arbitrary detention.

Javier Alfredo Valle Anaya, 54, is a Colombian citizen who obtained status in the U.S. through fraudulent means. Valle Anaya is a former agent of Colombia’s now disbanded intelligence agency, the Administrative Security Department. He was arrested on immigration violations Oct. 5, 2018, by special agents with HSI New York.

U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero today announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Moses Slanger Wright, 69, of Philadelphia, with fraudulently attempting to obtain citizenship, fraud in immigration documents, false statements in relation to naturalization, and perjury following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Philadelphia.

Eddie Yenner Murphy Karpoleh was flown from Saint Paul to Liberia on a flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit. Upon arrival, the fugitive was turned over to Liberian officials.

All foreign nationals arrested during this operation have outstanding final orders of removal and are subject to repatriation to their countries of origin. Thirteen individuals are also in the U.S. with convictions for crimes including, but not limited to, homicide, aggravated assault with a weapon, burglary, disorderly conduct, damage property, larceny, indecent exposure, resisting officer, and DUI offenses.

A superseding indictment returned in the Middle District of Pennsylvania charges Ross Roggio, 53, of Stroudsburg, with suffocating the victim with a belt, threatening to cut off one of the victim’s fingers, and directing Kurdish soldiers to inflict other severe physical and mental pain and suffering on the victim.