News Releases and Statements

Tomas Emilio Hernandez Cruz, 71, from West Park was arrested at his residence after an investigation into fraudulent claims he made on his immigration application.

ICE transported Leticia Caballero Guadarrama, a 53-year-old criminal alien from Mexico, from the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, to the Laredo Port of Entry where she was released into Mexico.

In 2024, the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force initiated 1,220 investigations and resolved 728 Cyber Tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Investigators seized 122 electronic devices containing over 10 million images and videos, including more than 48,000 identified as child sexual abuse material.

ICE and their law enforcement partners targeted transnational criminal organizations known to operate in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. These organizations include the notorious MS-13 and 18th Street gangs.

ICE, USMS and ATFE arrested Virginia Basora-Gonzalez, a 36-year-old citizen of the Dominican Republic, in Philadelphia during a joint operation, March 12.

ICE and the DEA arrested Stivenson Omar Perez-Ajtzalan, 19, an illegal Guatemalan alien charged with aggravated rape of a child, in Lawrence Jan. 30.

The Brazilian alien illegally entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location and without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.

Robert Earl Cochran Jr., a 63-year-old resident of Alvin, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to serve 25 years in federal prison to be immediately followed by 10 years of supervised release, during which time he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet.

ICE removed Amal Said, a citizen of Pakistan and convicted international drug trafficker with a final order of removal, to Pakistan March 5.

Emmanuel F. Almonte Mejia, 40, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 60 months, Feb. 27 and Hector Luiz De La Cruz Nunez, 32, was sentenced to 60 months, Feb. 5 by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Both men and co-conspirator, Loanny F. Duran Hiciano, 37, previously plead guilty for their roles in a Philadelphia area drug mill.

Mikhail Gouldson, 36, of Paterson, was charged on March 10 at the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in a five-count indictment with one count of dealing in firearms without a license, one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, one count of possession of machine guns, one count of possession of unregistered firearms and one count of attempted trafficking in firearms.

The arrests occurred during a week-long enhanced enforcement operation ending March 8 in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Roswell, New Mexico where ICE was joined by CBP, the FBI, the ATFE and the USMS.

ICE along with the DEA arrested Roxana Beatriz Ayala-Duran, 41, an illegally present Salvadoran national convicted in Virginia of assault, in Alexandria Feb. 25.

In December 2023, ICE Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Concord, New Hampshire Police Department began investigating a sophisticated gift card fraud scheme that is perpetuated by criminal organizations in China.

ICE arrested and removed illegal alien Jose Antonio Garcia, 51, March 10, to Mexico after Calipatria State Prison honored an immigration detainer following the alien’s scheduled release from prison for conviction of attempted murder.

Joel Sac-Tambriz, a 24-year-old previously deported Guatemalan national, was taken into custody pursuant to an outstanding arrest warrant out of Tarrant County, Texas, for vehicular homicide for allegedly hitting a 30-year-old man with his vehicle and fleeing the scene on June 9, 2024.

An ICE investigation led to Juan Carlos Ruiz-Diaz, 44, an illegal alien from Mexico, being indicted with illegal reentry into the United States after having been previously removed six times and convicted twice for the same offense.

On Feb. 25, HSI special agents executed a search warrant at an apartment in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In one bedroom, agents recovered a loaded pistol with an extended magazine containing 19 rounds of ammunition.

ICE arrested Daniel Mendivil Esquer, a 38-year-old Mexican citizen, March 6 in Dulzura. Mendivil has a history of criminal offenses, including possession of controlled substance paraphernalia and criminal street gang activity.

ICE arrested Manuel Tellez, a 48-year-old citizen of Mexico, March 4, in Dallas. ICE prioritized Tellez for arrest after identifying him as removable following his April 3, 2022, arrest for murder.

ICE arrested Javier Zeledon Reyes, 56, an illegal alien and citizen of Nicaragua, in Hyattsville, March 6, after he admitted during immigration proceedings to massacring approximately 20 people in the 1990s while serving in the Nicaraguan army.

Raymond Andres Zumba, 27, of Staten Island, New York, faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. Zumba has been ordered detained pending trial.

Cesar Antonio Geronimo-Morales, 34, of Guatemala; Calixto Gomez-Lopez, 42, of Guatemala; Fermin Diaz, 37, of El Salvador; Lenar Donaldo Martinez-Garay, 32, of Honduras; Lesman Yohan Lopez-Gamez, 33, of Honduras; and Juan Jose Resendiz-Gonzalez, 47, of Mexico, have been indicted with illegal reentry by a previously deported alien. If convicted, each faces up to two years in federal prison.

ICE completed the removal of Christopher Anthony Frater, a 32-year-old citizen of Canada, to his home country March 7 as part of the Canadian Treaty Transfer program.

ICE arrested Wilbert Jean-Baptiste, a 38-year-old convicted murderer wanted in Haiti following a prison escape, Feb. 4.