News Releases and Statements

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.

The event aimed to educate students, teachers, school administrators, and parents about the dangers of online child exploitation and abuse, and how they can protect themselves and their children from these ever-present online threats.

The multi-agency operation’s goal was to increase the safety of freight trains and their crews traveling through Charlotte, due to increased reporting of gang affiliated aliens on the rail tracks, threatening citizens and employees of the railway, selling narcotics, trespassing, and other criminal activity.

Among those arrested were members of violent international gangs, known for their involvement in drug trafficking, human smuggling, and violent crimes. Additionally, ICE took custody of convicted sex offenders who had unlawfully re-entered the United States, as well as individuals facing federal criminal charges for immigration and other violations.

The ICE HSI-led operation resulted in the discovery and positive identification of 36 victims and more than 380 investigative leads related to additional victims.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, and several other state and local law enforcement agencies participated in the operation.

ICE removed Fatbardh Lala, an Albanian national wanted in his home country on fraud and bribery charges, when he was turned over to Albanian authorities at the Tirana International Airport in Tirana, Albania, March 6.

ICE removed Jose Ramon Torres Cordova, a 47-year-old Mexican fugitive wanted in Hermosillo, Mexico, for kidnapping and criminal association, March 7.

Guatemalan officials extradited Moises Humberto Rivera-Luna, also known as Santos and Viejo Santos, 55, from Guatemala to the United States, March 4.

ICE arrested Dan Adrian Agafitei, 26, an illegally present Romanian national upon his release from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, March 4.

ICE arrested Axel Ramirez-Hernandez, a 32-year-old Guatemalan national with convictions for sexual assault of a victim less than 16 years old and illegal reentry after deportation, March 6 in Spring Valley with a criminal warrant of arrest for illegal reentry after deportation.