News Releases and Statements

ERO officers in the Salt Lake City area of operations covering Utah, Nevada, Montana and Idaho apprehended nine unlawfully present noncitizens who have been convicted of drug trafficking or multiple drug possession-related offenses involving methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin or synthetic drugs during a nationwide law enforcement effort that ran from March 11 through March 26.

ERO officers apprehended 27 unlawfully present noncitizens who have been convicted of drug trafficking or multiple drug related offenses methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin or synthetic drugs during a nationwide law enforcement effort that ran from March 11 through March 26.

ERO Harlingen officers apprehended six unlawfully present noncitizens who were convicted of drug trafficking or multiple drug possession related offenses involving methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin or synthetic drugs during a nationwide law enforcement effort that ran from March 11 through March 26, 2024.

ERO New York City Fugitive Operations officers apprehended 13 unlawfully present noncitizens with convictions for drug trafficking or multiple drug possession related offenses involving methamphetamines, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, or synthetic drugs during a nationwide law enforcement from March 11 – 26.

ICE's ERO New Orleans officers apprehended seven unlawfully present noncitizens with narcotics convictions during a nationwide law enforcement effort March 11- 22.

Among all 25 ICE ERO offices across the country, the ERO Houston Field Office apprehended the highest percentage of targets during the operation successfully arresting 11 of the 15 targets that were identified in the Houston-area for potential enforcement action.

ICE ERO officers apprehended 216 unlawfully present noncitizens who have been convicted of drug trafficking or multiple drug possession related offenses involving methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, or synthetic drugs, during a nation-wide law enforcement effort that ran from March 11 - 26, 2024.

ERO Philadelphia removed Anthony Eduardo Murillo Oliva, a citizen of Honduras, with a final order of removal, to Honduras on March 18.

On March 18, ERO New York City arrested an unlawfully present citizen of Colombia convicted of conspiring to distribute and possession with intent to distribute one kilogram and more of heroin.

Special agents with HSI Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Seattle Field Offices, along with HSI Brussels, and the National Police Force of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, coordinated the international takedown of four domain servers allegedly used to sell fake pharmaceutical grade drugs, some of which contained methamphetamine and fentanyl and were unlawfully distributed across the United States.

Leonard Mnela, a citizen of Albania with a final order of removal, is a foreign fugitive wanted by law enforcement authorities in Italy for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, attempted extortion, firearms violation, drug trafficking, drug importing and drug selling.

Juan Carlos Perlaza Caicedo aka Olindo Perlaza Caicedo aka Gafas, 45, of Colombia pleaded guilty to producing and transporting several tons of cocaine from Colombia to Central America beginning in at least 2002.

If convicted, Reginald Dugger, 42, of Orlando, faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison for the drug offense and up to 15 years in federal prison for the firearm offense.

A superseding indictment was partially unsealed in the Southern District of California March 5 charging alleged drug trafficker Benjamin Madrigal-Birrueta, 22, with murdering two people to prevent them from testifying in drug trafficking cases in federal court in San Diego.

Allan Alberto Moreno Trevino, 41, of Mexico, pleaded guilty before a federal judge March 5.

Officials removed 110 packages from the vehicle with a total combined weight of 72.05 kilograms (158.8 pounds). The packages contained blue pills with “M30” markings, and the initial investigation determined the pills contained fentanyl.

Josue Adan Lemus-Lara aka Fenix, 39, of Esquipulas, Guatemala, was convicted on all charges in a maritime cocaine trafficking conspiracy following a weeklong jury trial in November 2023.  

Chad Williams Wesevich, 40, and his brother Jamie Wesevich, 41, both residents of Corpus Christi, were sentenced Feb. 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to serve 360, 240 and 60 months, respectively, for conspiracy to manufacture and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

According to court documents, a Brewster County sheriff’s deputy stopped Ana Cristina Alarcon Rios, 24, of Chihuahua, for speeding along Highway 90 in Alpine.

Roberto Tovar, 47, of Del Rio, was sentenced Jan. 29 to 168 months in federal prison. His co-defendant, Melissa Villarreal, 36, of Del Rio, was sentenced to 135 months in prison. Tovar pleaded guilty June 24, 2021, and Villarreal pleaded guilty March 28, 2022.

The judge ordered Jesus Hector Lagarda-Gil, 45, of Mexico, to forfeit a 2018 Mazda CX5 automobile and $148,000 in U.S. currency. Lagarda-Gil pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine on Sept. 21, 2023.

Phil Cuellar III, a 36-year-old resident of Corpus Christi and documented gang member, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 168 months in federal prison to be followed by five years of supervised release for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamines.

A federal judge sentenced Juan Mendoza, 53, to 62 months in federal prison. He also faces loss of his legal status and possible removal proceedings. At the hearing, the judge heard evidence that Mendoza had smuggled illegal narcotics on other occasions.

Noe De Jesus Martinez-Montelongo, 36, and Fidel Rodriguez-Saldana, 35, both from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, were sentenced by a federal judge to 235 months in prison as well.

Following Siragusa Romero’s arrest, only two of the 42 original fugitives remain at large — Christopher Maldonado-Lopez and Christian Maldonado-Lopez.