News Releases and Statements

A Colorado man was sentenced in a federal court May 27 in Alpine to 240 months in prison for distributing fentanyl to a Texas resident as a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

An investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, Maryland; along with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, led to the sentencing of Douglas Anthony Eze, 55, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, for visa fraud.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Tajikistan-born Russian national who is wanted overseas.

On June 1, ICE received a tip from an anonymous caller reporting that multiple illegal aliens were being harbored at a residence in Mercedes. ICE contacted the Mercedes Police Department, which conducted a welfare check of the property. Authorities spoke to the owner of the property who admitted to harboring approximately 16 individuals inside the home.

Among the aliens removed were 8 gang members, 11 convicted child predators, and a criminal alien who illegally entered US 21 times

The shipment, which originated in China and was destined for the Sinaloa Drug Cartel in Mexico, was identified as a result of an initiative launched by ICE in 2019 that leverages the agency’s extensive expertise in illicit cross-border trade and sophisticated analytical tools and techniques to identify suspicious shipments of chemical precursors from China, India and other source countries that are destined for the drug cartels in Mexico.

More than half the 1,461 arrested had significant criminal convictions or charges. Seven-hundred and ninety of the alien offenders were charged with or convicted of crimes in the United States or abroad.

Two family members with ties to South Texas have been charged with allegedly conspiring to materially support a Mexican cartel previously designated as a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit money laundering and related smuggling charges, following an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DEA and the FBI with substantial assistance of IRS CI along with Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Marshals Service and Texas Department of Public Safety.

The charges against Elvis Harizaj, 25, of Cherry Hill, and Natasha Flores, 27, of Newark, were announced May 28 by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Camden.

Officers with ICE Baltimore arrested Moises Alberto Figueroa-Bonilla May 27 in Frederick. Figueroa is a validated member of MS-13.

The multiagency operation, directed by ICE Homeland Security Investigations Tallahassee, with significant assistance from ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, Florida Highway Patrol, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, U.S. Marshals Service, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigations, led to the arrest of illegal aliens from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuelans, Colombia, and Honduras to name a few.

Organizational realignments will help ICE achieve President Trump and the American people’s mandate of arresting and deporting criminal illegal aliens and making American communities safe.

Ralph Olarte, 55, of Glendale, the CFO of Sport LA Inc., was arrested May 27 at Los Angeles International Airport. He made his initial appearance and was arraigned May 28 in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

Fourteen defendants — including San Fernando Valley and Glendale residents — were arrested May 28, on two federal criminal complaints alleging they fraudulently obtained more than $25 million in taxpayer-funded COVID-19 relief funds and federally-guaranteed small business loans.

ICE HSI Newark administratively arrested Adelso Garcia Martinez, 29, a Guatemalan native, May 13 for violations of the Immigration and Naturalization Act.

ICE, in a joint operation with state and federal law enforcement, arrested Daikerlyn Alejandraa Gonzalez-Gonzalez, a 22-year-old citizen of Venezuela in Dallas on May 27, following a state warrant execution for felony manslaughter.

An illegal alien from Guatemala was sentenced in federal court May 23 to 14 years in prison for managing a cocaine trafficking organization that smuggled more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine into the United States from Guatemala. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The multiagency operation, directed by ICE Homeland Security Investigations New Orleans, led to the arrest of 15 illegal aliens from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

ICE removed Oscar Lopez Delira, a 47-year-old three-time removed criminal alien and convicted child predator, to his home country of Mexico May 27.

The operation yielded around 40 apprehensions including a documented gang member and at least one child sex offender.

Betty Nora Anderson, 65, of Phoenix, previously pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Fentanyl and Methamphetamine, Possession with Intent to Distribute Fentanyl, Possession with Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine, and Falsification of Records in a Bankruptcy Proceeding.

Officers with ICE Baltimore arrested Alex Yonatan Flores-Arce, May 22 after the Howard County Detention Center failed to honor an ICE immigration detainer and released Flores back into the community on two separate occasions.

Officials with ICE Boston, DEA New England and ATF Boston arrested Vivian Gisselle Soriano-Neto in Providence March 11.

Officers with ICE Boston removed Juliano Araujo Dos Santos Silva from the United States to Brazil March 27 and turned him over to Brazilian authorities.

Following his prison term, German Montano-Peralta, 33, of Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico, will also be on three years of supervised release. Montano-Peralta previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine.