News Releases and Statements

In fiscal year (FY) 2019, the 287(g) program resulted in almost 25,000 law enforcement encounters with aliens in the custody of participating jurisdictions.

Ruben Maldonado-Espino, 30, from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, was convicted by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo, Southern District of Texas. Since he is not a U.S. citizen, he is expected to face deportation proceedings following his incarceration.

Rowan Olsen, 19, of Portland, is charged with disorderly conduct, creating a hazard on federal property, and failing to obey a lawful order; Shant Singh Ahuja, 28, of Oceanside, California, is charged with destruction of federal property; and Andrew Steven Faulkner, 24, of Beaverton, Oregon; Gretchen Margaret Blank, 29, of Seattle, Washington; Christopher Fellini, 31, of Portland; Cody Porter, 28, of Portland; and Taimane Jame Teo, 24, of Eugene, Oregon, are charged with assaulting federal officers.

Elvis Antonio Velasquez-Molina, 29, from El Salvador, was arrested by ICE officers May 23 near Staten Island, New York after a warrant for his arrest was discovered during a records check.

Following an investigation by ICE’s HSI New York’s CPAA unit with assistance from U.S. CBP, Ashraf Omar Eldarir, a U.S. citizen, is being charged with smuggling Egyptian cultural property into the United States.

Due to COVID-19, SEVP instituted a temporary exemption regarding online courses for the spring and summer semesters. This policy permitted nonimmigrant students to take more online courses than normally permitted by federal regulation to maintain their nonimmigrant status during the COVID-19 emergency.

Paul Belloisi, 52, was arrested Feb. 5 following an investigation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection at JFK. Belloisi, of Hicksville, New York, is charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, conspiracy to import cocaine and importation of cocaine.

Lucas Antonio Nord was sentenced July 2 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to 200 months in federal prison. Nord was further ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution and will be required to register as a sex offender and serve the rest of his life on supervised release following completion of his prison term.

ERO officers had lodged a detainer June 19 with Montgomery County Detention Center on Rene Atilio Ramos-Hernandez, 56, an unlawfully present citizen of El Salvador and a convicted criminal alien, following his recent arrest for sexual abuse of a minor.

The indictment alleges Jose Sergio Martinez-Aguilar, 39; Vladimir Pulstilinkov, 44; Miguel Lovos, 31; Sebastian Ramos, 29; and Ricardo Ruiz-Salinas, 43; were members of an international drug trafficking organization. The government charges Martinez-Aguilar of Thermal, California; and Lovos of Indio, California, with three counts of narcotics conspiracy and one count of firearms possession in connection with drug trafficking. Pulstilinkov, also of Indio, is charged with two counts of narcotics conspiracy and one count of firearms possession in connection with drug trafficking. Ramos and Ruiz-Salinas, both of Brooklyn, New York, each are charged with one count of narcotics conspiracy.

Turhan Lemont Armstrong, 50, of Northridge, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner, who also ordered him to pay $3,305,609 in restitution. Judge Klausner also has ordered the forfeiture of two homes – one in Northridge, the other in Perris – purchased with illicit funds obtained from the scheme.

There are approximately 302,502 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently onboard the Bella, approximately 302,522 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently onboard the Bering, approximately 259,700 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently onboard the Luna, and approximately 298,484 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently onboard the Pandi.

According to court documents, Richard Stephen Terry, 56, of Tampa, used the Internet to entice adult women to allow him to engage in sexual activities with their minor children. Agents identified Terry in multiple online chat rooms designed for individuals who are interested in the sexual exploitation of children, and he used the chat rooms to meet and discuss their interests and tactics.

Bryan C. Mileikis, 33, of Bourne, Massachusetts, was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Mileikis made an initial appearance via videoconference in federal court July 1.

Michael John Suppes, 46, of Weld County, Colorado, willfully engaged in the business of manufacturing and dealing in firearms and is not a licensed firearm dealer or manufacturer. He exported firearm parts to buyers in other countries without obtaining an export license and he possessed short-barreled rifles that were not registered under the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record as required by law.

On June 18, 2020, MS-13 gang member Alexander Martinez-Flores, a.k.a. “Pocar,” was sentenced in the Northern District of California to 30 years of incarceration for using a firearm to cause murder, conspiracy to commit murder and extortion, and racketeering conspiracy. Martinez, 29, is a citizen of El Salvador.

Ramces Chavez-Gomez, 48, from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo, Southern District of Texas, to 72 months in federal prison.

J. Guadalupe Martinez-Montelongo, 48, from Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo, Southern District of Texas, to 63 months in federal prison. On March 3, Martinez-Montelongo plead guilty to the meth charges.

Chao “Edwin” Chen (陈超), 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James V. Selna. Chen pleaded guilty in June 2016 to visa fraud, marriage fraud and filing a false tax return. Soon after pleading guilty, Chen fled to China and remains a fugitive.

Javier Guerrero-Garcia, 23, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. In his plea, Guerrero-Garcia admitted that he fired a Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun into a residence early in the morning of Nov. 19, 2017.

Rian Harold Ishikawa, 42, of Kailua, was charged with one count of producing child pornography and two counts of possessing child pornography.

Infraud was an Internet-based cybercriminal enterprise engaged in the large-scale acquisition, sale, and dissemination of stolen identities, compromised debit and credit cards, personally identifiable information, financial and banking information, computer malware, and other contraband.