News Releases and Statements

ICE, in collaboration with federal law enforcement partners, arrested Quoc Bo Pham and Dung Quoc Pham, both Vietnamese nationals, July 22 in Westminster.

An investigation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations New England led to the Aug. 6 arrest of Connor McAuliffe, a 34-year-old emergency medical technician, for allegedly receiving and possessing child sexual abuse material.

Miguel Angel Guevara-Murillo was arrested Aug. 4 and charged by criminal complaint with possession of a document-making implement after he allegedly told investigators he used the equipment to make counterfeit state identification documents, which he sold for $250 to people who sought to work as DoorDash drivers.

Davon Mitchell was sentenced July 28 to serve 20 years in prison after he admitted to distributing fentanyl that resulted in the overdose deaths of two individuals; and selling fentanyl that resulted in the non-fatal overdose of another individual on three occasions.

Among those arrested were convicted murderers, child predators, thieves, and arsonists and an alien who illegally entered the US 40 times.

Matthew Ozol, 39, of Jersey City, was charged with one count of possession of child pornography at the U.S. District Court in Newark. HSI Newark executed a search warrant at Ozol’s residence and recovered at least 26 images and videos of child sexual abuse material.

HSI personnel arrested Dennis Costa, 66, on July 29 at his residence in Fall River.

HSI personnel arrested Eynar Estuardo Vielman Jimenez, 38, on Aug. 2 in West Roxbury.

ICE agencies in Newark arrested an additional four illegally present child predators since July 21, making a total of eight arrests in an ongoing effort targeting illegal aliens with histories of child exploitation.

Juan Carlos Padilla Santos, a Dominican national with prior murder and narcotics convictions, was sentenced to 100 months in prison after an investigation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations New York uncovered he had illegally reentered the United States despite having been previously deported twice and having been the subject of a third removal order.

An ICE Homeland Security Task Force in Orlando arrested Guillermo Perez Alzate, a confessed murderer and criminal alien from Colombia. Perez is a former paramilitary leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a transnational criminal organization that uses drugs to finance its illegal activities.

ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, in close coordination with U.S. and international law enforcement partners, has successfully dismantled critical infrastructure used by BlackSuit ransomware, a major cybercriminal operation and successor to Royal ransomware, responsible for attacks on essential services around the world. The operation resulted in the seizures of servers, domains and digital assets used to deploy ransomware, extort victims, and launder proceeds.

Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old citizen of China in ICE custody, passed away at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center on Aug. 5.

An investigation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations New York, in coordination with its law enforcement partners, led a Long Island woman to plead guilty to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s administration of campaign finance laws July 30.

ICE, with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations, the U.S. Border Patrol, and state and local law enforcement, arrested 42 illegal aliens Aug. 5 during an operation in Southeast Houston targeting criminal aliens and other egregious immigration offenders.

ICE arrested six illegal aliens this past week in the Houston area who, as a group, have illegally entered the U.S. an astounding 42 times and been convicted of 48 criminal offenses.

ICE removed Romulus Mihai, an illegally present, 33-year-old Belgian fugitive convicted of sexual exploitation of a child in his native country, and turned him over to Belgian authorities July 31.

On June 11, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned an indictment charging 53 gang members from the municipality of San Juan with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, possession and distribution of controlled substances, and firearms violations.

ICE arrested Dominican national and illegal alien Bean Gomez-Cepeda July 2, after a U.S. Magistrate Judge issued a warrant against him for assaulting federal agents. He was charged with resisting, opposing or impeding federal agents with a dangerous weapon and hitting a government vehicle with his own vehicle.

Jesus Lopez Jr., 35, participated and recorded multiple sexually explicit acts with the child. He faces between five and 15 years in prison and at least five years of supervised release. He must also register as a sex offender.

Mario Torrez-Lopez, 34, of Mexico, is a self-admitted member of the Sureños gang and has been deported from the United States four times — in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022. Despite these removals, Torrez-Lopez illegally returned each time and continued to engage in criminal behavior across multiple states.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles participated in the arrest of a Long Beach man Aug. 1 on a federal criminal complaint alleging he sent a dozen payments to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

ICE announced July 31 that it has issued over 1,000 tentative job offers since July 4, marking a significant milestone in its ongoing recruitment efforts.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and law enforcement partners conducted an operation July 30, where former NBA star Gilbert Arenas and five other defendants — including a suspected high-level member of an Israeli transnational organized crime group — were arrested on a federal indictment alleging they operated an illegal gambling business in which high-stakes poker games were played at an Encino mansion Arenas owned.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia and Homeland Security Investigations Philadelphia, IRS Philadelphia and ATF Philadelphia arrested Silvestre Herrera-Vasquez, a 48-year-old citizen of Mexico, in Malvern July 28.