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November 18, 2019
|Human Rights Violators
Operation Limelight began in 2014 as a joint initiative between the U.K. Border Force and police services across the U.K. Its goal is to tackle FGM by engaging with families traveling to countries with a high prevalence of FGM, to raise awareness of FGM, and to prevent and eventually to end the practice.
October 25, 2019
|Human Rights Violators
Milan Trisic, 56, pleaded guilty Dec. 18, 2017, to a single count of obtaining a permanent resident card, commonly referred to as a “green card,” by making materially false claims and statements and was sentenced to 18 months in prison March 28, 2018.
September 6, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

ERO Charlotte officers arrested an individual from Central America affiliated with an organization engaged in documented human rights atrocities against citizens in their country of origin. The individual will be removed from United States.

September 6, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

ERO Atlanta officers arrested an individual from Central America involved in military operation that specifically targeted women and children and an individual from Africa affiliated with a regime directly responsible for human rights atrocities against citizens in his country of origin. The two individuals had already received final orders of removal and will be removed from United States.

September 5, 2019
|Human Rights Violators
HSI special agents spoke to more than 160 travelers from ten international flights between Los Angeles International Airport, Newark International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport as part of Operation Limelight USA.
September 5, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

During the operation, ERO officers arrested six aliens at-large in the community. The six are known or suspected human rights violators who were issued final orders of removal to be removed from United States.

September 5, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

ERO Baltimore officers arrested a Central American man who was affiliated with an organization complicit in alleged kidnappings, inflicted prisoner injuries, and alleged murders in his home country, and a West African man connected to a regime directly responsible for human rights abuses of citizens in his home country. The two were issued final orders of removal to be removed from United States.

September 4, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

The ICE National Fugitive Operations Program in coordination with the ICE Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, and the ICE Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, worked with ICE’s ERO Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, Newark, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco field offices to arrest these fugitives.

July 1, 2019
|Human Rights Violators
Jean Leonard Teganya, 47, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge F. Denis Saylor IV to 97 months in prison. Upon completion of his sentence, Teganya will face removal proceedings. In addition, Judge Saylor found that Teganya obstructed justice by committing perjury when he testified during trial. In April 2019, Teganya was convicted by a jury of two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury.
June 28, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

As part of Operation Limelight USA, HSI is conducting similar public outreach at international airports throughout the U.S. The U.S. program was designed by HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center, basing it off the United Kingdom’s Operation Limelight which is conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service and Border Authority. 

June 14, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

Operation Limelight USA is a program designed by HSI’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit to bring awareness to FGM and deter its practice through the education of the public about the relevant risks

June 12, 2019
|Human Rights Violators
This FGM outreach was implemented by HSI agents located in the Bay Area with the assistance of CBP officers at the airport. This is a part of a nationwide HSI effort, educating individuals and families about FGM while seeking to identify and help victims and arrest perpetrators of this crime.
May 30, 2019
|Human Rights Violators
Francisco Cuxum Alvarado, a/k/a Francisco Cuxun-Alvarado, 64, was indicted on one count of illegal reentry into the United States and detained following arraignment on that charge.
May 23, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

Mergia Negussie Habteyes, 58, previously pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful procurement of naturalization.  Negussie was sentenced by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia.

April 5, 2019
|Human Rights Violators
Jean Leonard Teganya, 48, was convicted of two counts of immigration fraud and three counts of perjury. U.S. District Court Judge F. Denis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for July 1, 2019.
March 7, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

The court’s order was based on its finding that Sammy Rasema Yetisen aka Rasema Handanovic aka Zolja, a native of the former Yugoslavia, lacked the good moral character required to naturalize because during the 1990s Balkans Conflicts she had executed six unarmed civilians and prisoners of war because of their religion and ethnicity.

February 22, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

Mergia Negussie Habteyes, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully procuring naturalization contrary to law before U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia. A sentencing hearing before Judge Ellis is scheduled for May 17, 2019.

February 6, 2019
|Human Rights Violators

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a federal crime, and any involvement in committing this crime is a serious human rights violation which may result in imprisonment and potential removal from the United States. Individuals suspected of FGM/C, including sending girls overseas to be cut, may be investigated by the HRVWCC and prosecuted accordingly.

December 20, 2018
|Human Rights Violators

Nedjo Milosevic, 53, a native of the former Yugoslavia, who, according to the Department of Justice’s complaint, was a member of one of the military units responsible for the Srebrenica massacre – the largest mass atrocity in Europe since the Holocaust.

November 7, 2018
|Human Rights Violators, Enforcement and Removal
Dennis Wilfredo Pacheco-Zambrano, 48, a former Peruvian army second sergeant, has been charged in Peru for his alleged role in the July 4, 1991, torture, rape and extrajudicial killing of 15 Peruvian civilians in the rural village of Santa Barbara, Peru.
October 11, 2018
|Human Rights Violators
Javier Alfredo Valle Anaya, a 50-year-old citizen of Colombia, obtained his status in the U.S. through fraudulent means, which made him subject to removal. He was convicted in his native country on criminal charges for the 2004 murder of Alfredo Rafael Correa de Andreis, a sociologist, and his bodyguard Edilberto Ochoa Martinez.
September 20, 2018
|Human Rights Violators
On Sept. 17, HSI San Angelo special agents arrested former Peruvian Army Second Sergeant Dennis Wilfredo Pacheco-Zambrano, 48, in San Angelo. Pacheco is wanted in Peru for his alleged role in the July 4, 1991, torture, rape and extrajudicial killing of 15 Peruvian civilians in the rural village of Santa Barbara, Peru.
September 7, 2018
|Human Rights Violators
On August 30, law enforcement from the two nations also gathered at the U.S. embassy in London to sign a proclamation affirming their commitment to end the practice of FGM/C in both countries and around the world.
August 21, 2018
|Human Rights Violators

Palij, 95, concealed his Nazi service by telling U.S. immigration officials that he had spent the war years working until 1944 on his father’s farm in his hometown, which was previously a part of Poland and is now in Ukraine, and then in a German factory.

August 3, 2018
|Human Rights Violators

For the past 15 years, the center and its partners have worked collaboratively to support ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) efforts to bring numerous individuals to justice for human rights-related violations, such as genocide, torture, ethnic cleansing and various other forms of persecution. Through its work over the years, the center and its dedicated personnel have ensured that the United States does not become a safe haven for human rights abusers.

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