News Releases and Statements

The SHIELD Award honors those who have protected our nation and its values and recognizes law enforcement professionals for their service, honor, integrity, excellence, leadership and dedication.

Slobodan Mutic, 52, of Barberton, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly and willingly possessing a former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Form I-94, knowing it to be forged, counterfeited, altered, falsely made or to be have been procured by means of a false claim or statement.

The foreign nationals arrested during this operation all have outstanding removal orders and are subject to repatriation to their countries of origin. Of the 50 known or suspected human rights violators arrested during Operation No Safe Haven II, 10 individuals are also convicted criminal aliens in the U.S. This operation more than doubled the number of known or suspected human rights violators arrested during the first nationwide No Safe Haven operation, which took place in September 2014.

On the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide, ICE participated in an event in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina, to stand in solidarity with the victims and survivors.

The U.S. Congress, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina have all concluded that the crimes in eastern Bosnia in July 1995 constitute genocide.

Almaz Nezirovic, 54, formerly of Roanoke, Virginia, was extradited July 1 to Bosnia, where he is accused of perpetrating torture and inhumane treatment against Serbian civilians detained at the Rabic Prison Camp in Derventa Municipality. He was charged in Bosnia with committing war crimes against civilians between April and July 1992 during the Bosnian War.

These departments collaborated to develop the ACTeam Initiative to streamline rapidly expanding human trafficking enforcement efforts, focusing on forced labor, international sex trafficking and sex trafficking of adults by force, fraud and coercion.

ICE Director Sarah Saldaña thanked attendees for being there, and said that “Human rights abuses occur across the world....The idea that a child can be pulled from his or her home and community and into dire circumstances is abominable. Federal agencies can work together to try to save children and adults who are trafficked around the world.”

Special Agent Matthew Baechtle, the lead agent in the Chucky Taylor investigation, was working three separate arms trafficking cases while assigned to HSI Washington, D.C., all of which involved American citizens trafficking weapons to Liberia (in violation of the Arms Export Control Act).

Pedro Dombele, who had been living in the U.S. lawfully, was criminally arrested in Westborough, Mass. in April 2006 for assault and battery and later convicted.

In 2004, Beatrice Munyenyezi, who claimed she was a refugee from Rwanda, was living with her three daughters in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The United Nations General Assembly set aside this date, March 24, to “honor the memory of victims of gross and systematic human rights violations and promote the importance of the right to truth and justice” as well as to “pay tribute to those who have devoted their lives to, and lost their lives in, the struggle to promote and protect human rights for all.”

Felipe Pena, 40, of Laredo, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo to 67 months in federal prison, which included an upward variance for almost injuring CBP officers during the chase. The court further noted that Pena is a violent individual and should show respect to law enforcement and the United States of America. Pena pleaded guilty Aug. 27, 2014.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrates the proposition that freedom, justice and peace in the world are fundamental rights that all individuals are entitled to equally. This year's slogan, "Human Rights 365," embraces the idea that every day is Human Rights Day.

During the operation that concluded September 18, ICE's National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP), in coordination with the ICE Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC), arrested these fugitives via the ICE field offices of Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City and San Francisco.

These arrests were part of a first-of-its-kind nationwide operation last week targeting suspected human rights violators in multiple cities across the United States.

The HSI investigation revealed that Mahmoud Bazzi, 71, who is a native and citizen of Lebanon, repeatedly provided false and misleading testimony and submissions that were critical to his obtaining status in the United States.

John Doe, aka Habteab Berhe Temanu, aka Habteab B Temanu, aka "TUFA," aka Kefelegn Alemu, aka Kefelegn Alemu Worku, about 62 years old, a Denver resident from Ethiopia, was sentenced May 23 by Senior U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane to the lengthy prison term for unlawfully procuring citizenship, making false statements on immigration documents and identity theft.

Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu, aka Jucontee Thomas Smith, 68, of Collingdale, was charged with seven counts of perjury, two counts of fraudulently attempting to obtain citizenship, four counts of fraud in immigration documents and three counts of false statements in relation to naturalization. If convicted, he faces a maximum possible sentence of 110 years in prison, a $4,000,000 fine, not more than three years supervised release and a $1,600 special assessment.

Zdenko Jakiša, 45, of Forest Lake, Minn., was arrested Wednesday on immigration fraud charges for failing to disclose his military service and the multiple crimes he committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the armed conflict there in the 1990s.

In remembering the terrible events of the Rwandan genocide, ICE remains vigilant to all expressions of hatred, persecution and tyranny and affirms its commitment to seek justice for victims of the Rwandan genocide and other human rights atrocities around the world.

Jorge Sosa, 55, of Moreno Valley, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips in the Central District of California. At sentencing, the court also revoked Sosa's U.S. citizenship.

The event was attended by law enforcement and government agency partners, non-governmental organizations and others, including U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, special agents, attorneys, historians and analysts who have supported the mission.