News Releases and Statements

Eighty-two convicted criminal aliens were arrested during a five-day enforcement action which ended Friday and was conducted by officers with ICE ERO in the Houston area.

Walter Guillermo Reyes, 42, was repatriated on board a charter flight coordinated by ERO’s Air Operations Unit. Upon arrival, ERO officers turned the suspect over to officials from Guatemala’s Policia Nacional Civil (PNC).

Yoeldis Melian-Mastrapa, 29, is the latest removal among eight Cuban nationals implicated in a human trafficking ring that allegedly operated in Ecuador. The ring was discovered in December 2013 as a result of a joint investigation between ICE HSI Attaché Office in Ecuador and the Ecuadorian government.

Babar Ahmad, 41, was extradited to the United States in 2012 to face charges for operating a family of websites collectively known as Azzam Publications, which an HSI investigation determined was established to “incite the believers” and also to raise money for known terrorist groups, including the Taliban.

Julio Cesar Reyes-Rodriguez, 42, was transferred by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers to the custody of representatives from the Mexican Attorney General’s Office at the San Ysidro port of entry. Reyes-Rodriguez is charged with murder in an arrest warrant issued in May by the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (PGJDF).

Farhad Jenabfar was transferred into the custody of Canadian authorities upon his arrival at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

According to Salvadoran police reports, on May 19, 2011, Jose Genaro Mendez Mendez and his MS-13 associates allegedly threatened to kill a man if he failed to pay $4,000 in U.S. currency. Mendez Mendez allegedly collected $1,500 in U.S. currency and immediately fled the scene with his associates.

According to court documents, Henok Dejene Retta, 30, of Ethopia, verbally and physically resisted two attempts by ICE ERO officers to place him aboard a commercial flight from the Alexandria International Airport in November 2013 and again in January 2014.

Gabriel Collado-Rodriguez, 40, was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice when he was arrested June 2 as part of a nationwide roundup of foreign fugitives residing in the United States by ERO and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Those arrested include: a 43-year-old previously deported Mexican national whose list of criminal history includes convictions for child molestation, and a DUI resulting in death; a 20-year old legal permanent resident from Mexico with a conviction for drug trafficking; and a previously deported 49-year old Mexican national convicted of possessing of stolen mail.

Fadil Abdelghani, 52, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his part in the 1994 conspiracy headed by the blind Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman to target the United Nations, FBI offices and other New York City landmarks.

Hardened criminals, such as drug cartel and violent gang members are not always cooperative when arrested, taken into custody and removed from the United States. That’s a situation for the elite SRTs from ICE’s ERO to handle.

The arrests, made from June 23 through June 25, were made throughout New Jersey, with multiple arrests in cities such as Lakewood, Jersey City, Newark, Trenton, Cherry Hill, Paterson, Secaucus and Elizabeth. Of the 69 taken into custody by ERO, 51 met the agency’s highest priority level due to felony convictions or participation in a criminal street gang.

In less than one week, ERO and Interpol Guatemala identified three men – Marcos Najera Perez, Roberto Agustin Mendoza and Hugo Jose Eguizabal Garcia – wanted by Guatemalan authorities for separate incidents involving aggravated rape, domestic violence, criminal threats and homicide.

Jurgen and Bernhard Striegel were transferred into the custody of the German Federal Police upon their arrival in Germany June 17. According to an Interpol arrest warrant, both men participated in a vehicle fraud scheme that defrauded several banks out of approximately $2.76 million in U.S. currency.

The arrests, made from June 14 through June 18, were made in metropolitan Atlanta, in the Augusta area and in northwest Georgia. Of the 60 taken into custody by ERO, 17 met the agency’s highest priority level due to felony convictions or participation in a criminal street gang. An additional 43 arrestees met the second level of priorities for enforcement due to serious or multiple misdemeanor convictions.

Adilson Pires Ribeiro and Wagner Gregorio De Souza were transferred into the custody of the Brazilian Federal Police once they arrived in Brazil the morning of June 17.

Jilberto Salazar Perez, 38, was escorted to the Juarez Lincoln Port in Laredo, Texas, and turned over to Mexico’s Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) June 19.

Santos Lemus Abarca, 29, departed Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana Friday morning, and ERO officers turned him over to authorities at El Salvador International Airport later that afternoon.

Nehemias Otoniel Machorro-Ceron aka Nelson Aroldo Machorro-Fajardo, 30, is a citizen of Guatemala who illegally entered the United States under a false name in February.

The arrests were made in the following six states: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri. The 272 men and eight women arrested are from 22 countries.

Jose David Alvarenga-Ramos, 31, was previously removed from the United States once before in August 2007. Salvadoran authorities charged Alvarenga with aggravated murder, membership in an illicit group, and incitement in January 2015. He subsequently illegally reentered the United States at an unknown time and was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol March 31 near Carrizo Springs, Texas.

According to Salvadoran authorities Miguel Orellana-Hernandez, 27, was allegedly involved in the March 7 gang-related killing of Andrés Ernesto Oliva Tejada, prosecuting attorney in the homicide unit of the Salvadoran Attorney General’s Office. Olivia was shot several times and killed by MS-13 gang members while he parked his car.

ERO officers handed Darlin Navarro-Turcios over to Honduran authorities June 11 after officers took him into custody near his home May 29 following his release from a Philadelphia jail.

Rafael Santano Asencio Y Asencio, 47, illegally entered the United States around December 2013 near McAllen, Texas.