News Releases and Statements

An ICE Boston operation led to federal charges for an illegally present 32-year-old Salvadoran alien who was unlawfully residing in Lynn after having been previously deported. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts indicted Jose Leonardo Gutierrez-Mendez June 9 on one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien.

ICE makes official notifications to Congress, nongovernmental organization stakeholders, and the media upon an official report of a detained illegal alien’s death and posts a news release with relevant details on the ICE public website within two business days per agency policy.

Darlington Akporugo, a 47-year-old illegal alien from Nigeria, and his wife Jasmin Sood, a 37-year-old Houston resident, were sentenced June 24 to 188 months and 121 months in prison, respectively, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. Akporugo pleaded guilty earlier this year on Feb. 28, while Sood pleaded guilty Dec. 17, 2024.

ICE's HSI Tampa has signed an ICE Mutual Agreement Between Government and Employers, or IMAGE, program agreement with Ruri Software Technologies and Famous Technologies, Inc., as part of a voluntary collaborative program with America’s business community.

ORH III, conducted from Feb. 24 through March 7, builds on the success of the first two phases of the initiative which previously led to the identification and rescue of over 300 exploited children. With this third iteration, the cumulative victim count now surpasses 450, a chilling yet vital reminder of the scope the ongoing threat of online sexual exploitation poses to children.

The subjects were charged by complaint with one count of conspiracy to sell and receive stolen property that had crossed state lines. Marco Honesty, 28, Richard Francis, 35, Dominique Hayes, 29, Deandre Dudley, 32, Ilon Coles-Melson, 21, and Marcus Gallmon, 21, residents of Washington, D.C. and Maryland, were charged at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark.

ICE Dallas removed Joaquin Gallegos, a 33-year-old citizen of Mexico June 18 back to his country of origin.

On June 11, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Philadelphia Allentown office and federal law enforcement partners served a Notice of Inspection at the Five 10 Flats apartment complex, 510 East 3rd Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation resulted in an indictment that was unsealed June 13, charging a Dayton man with lying on his applications for a green card and United States citizenship by concealing his past role as a leader and perpetrator of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

According to court documents, Enrique Jauregui, 26, organized a smuggling event in 2024, recruiting fellow soldiers Angel Palma, 21, and Emilio Mendoza-Lopez, 22. Jauregui provided Palma and Mendoza-Lopez with the location information to pick up illegal aliens to smuggle, supported them with encouraging messages and instructions, and intended to pay the two co-conspirators after they dropped off the illegal aliens.

Desnique Deshawn Herndon, 28, was sentenced to seven life sentences by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker June 18. In 2023, Herndon was convicted by a jury of six counts of sex trafficking of children and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of children following a five-day trial.

A South Texas woman was taken into custody June 11 for threatening a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement law enforcement agent in the performance of his duties. The investigation is being conducted by ICE Homeland Security Investigations San Antonio with assistance from Goliad County Sheriff’s Office.

A federal grand jury indicted Paulo Vinicius Cardozo-Pereira June 9 charging him with one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien. This indictment follows Cardozo-Pereira’s arrest by officers with ICE Boston May 10.

The operation focused on the businesses that own and race thoroughbred and quarter horses out of the stables at the racetrack and the employees who work for them and take care of the horses. All of the aliens taken into custody during the operation were processed for administrative immigration violations and transported to the Lake Charles Border Patrol Station in Lake Charles, Louisiana. An investigation into potential criminal conduct related to the hiring of the illegal aliens remains ongoing and an assessment of whether any civil penalties are appropriate is being conducted.

The ICE-led multiagency investigation uncovered approximately 70 illegal aliens using stolen Social Security numbers and identities to unlawfully obtain wages, health benefits and employment authorization, leaving more than 100 real victims to face devastating financial, emotional and legal consequences.

Raul Velasco-Leon, 39, plead guilty to transporting child sexual abuse material on June 17.

A federal grand jury indictment was unsealed June 13 in San Diego alleging that 13 Guatemalan nationals are part of a Guatemala-based cocaine trafficking organization operating out of La Mesilla and Democracia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, which is on the Guatemala-Mexico border.

Anastacio Santiago Chaparro, also known as Arnoldo Urquidez, 41, of Mexico, was recently sentenced to 110 months' imprisonment for trafficking cocaine at the U.S. District Court of New Jersey in Camden. In February, Santiago Chaparro pleaded guilty to an indictment of those charges and illegal reentry by a convicted felon.

Officers with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston working with agents from ICE Homeland Security Investigations New England, FBI Boston, and DEA New England apprehended Emilio Neftaly Pineda June 12 in Peabody.

The Gulf of America Homeland Security Task Force, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, conducted a joint operation targeting an illegal animal fighting exhibition in Blount County, Alabama June 14.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts indicted Edwin Antonio Sanchez-Lara, 34, on one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien.

Anthony James Deason, 29, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison followed by eight years of supervised release for one count of attempted receipt of certain material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor.

ICE arrested Mexican national and convicted felon Juan Cruz-Gallegos pursuant to a warrant of arrest June 11, in Hudson, New York.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested four aggressive protestors, June 12, who were caught on video damaging federal property and threatening to assault federal agents and officers following the execution of a federal search warrant at Glenn Valley Foods.

Agents administratively arrested four illegal alien employees from Guatemala who were in the United States without authorization.