Making Immigration Happen
Chicago Woman Arrested for Selling Fraudulent Identity Documents to Illegal Aliens
A woman was arrested Wednesday, February 13, 2013, on charges she allegedly sold fraudulent identity documents to illegal aliens. These charges resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigra

Tag Archives: crime

Key Player in Major International Drug Ring Found Guilty

 A federal jury found a Colombian man guilty Wednesday, August 22, 2012, of three drug conspiracy charges. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison for two of the conspiracy charges and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for the third charge. This case was investigated by the Panama Express South Strike Force, which consists of officers and analysts from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service and the U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Laureano Angulo Riascos, 54, ofColombia, was second-in-command of the Morfi drug trafficking organization. Starting in 2000, he worked with others to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Panama, using speed boats or go-fast vessels. By 2002, Riascos and others began making shipments containing thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. The cocaine was ultimately destined for the United States.

The Morfi drug trafficking organization pioneered the design and construction of self-propelled, semi-submersible vessels and used them to smuggle cocaine. The drug traffickers built and dispatched these vessels from Mayorquin, Colombia, an area on the country’s pacific coast controlled by the 30th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The State Department has designated the 30th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia as a foreign terrorist organization. The drug traffickers paid the Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia a fee to conduct drug trafficking operations on its territory. Between 2004 and 2009, Riascos worked with others to dispatch more than 15 self-propelled, semi-submersible vessels from Mayorquin, each carrying between 2,000 and 5,000 kilograms of cocaine. The total amount of cocaine trafficked by Riascos is valued at more than $1 billion.

Riascos is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 9. He was indicted Dec. 2, 2010, and extradited to the United States from Colombia April 17.

The current suspected head of the Morfi drug trafficking organization, Jose Samir Renteria-Cuero, aka “Jose Morfi,” is in custody in Colombia. He has been indicted and is pending extradition to the Middle District of Florida for prosecution. An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

The Panama Express South Strike Force is an organized crime drug enforcement task force. These task forces identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.

Criminal Alien Wanted in Massachusetts is Arrested in Puerto Rico by ERO

A Dominican Republic national, wanted in Massachusetts for assault with intent to murder and drug trafficking, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations’ (ERO) officers Friday, August 10, 2012, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Upon learning and confirming that Yael Sanchez-Correa was residing in Puerto Rico, an ERO Fugitive Operations team began a thorough search for the fugitive that led them to the residence of some of his relatives in the local area who persuaded Sanchez-Correa to make the correct decision to surrender to law enforcement authorities. He was arrested immediately after he surrendered to ERO officers in Guaynabo.

“The arrest of this Massachusetts fugitive by ERO officers in Puerto Rico should send a loud and clear message to those criminals who try to evade justice by fleeing a particular jurisdiction that ERO and its Department of Homeland Security partners will go after them,” said Marc Moore, field office director of ERO Miami. “ERO will continue working with our local, state and federal partners in an effort to protect our communities from those who pose a threat to our public safety and security.”

Sanchez-Correa was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and transferred to the Guaynabo Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting the outcome of his case and possible extradition to Massachusetts.

The removal of criminal aliens from the United States is a national priority. To address this priority, ICE designed the National Fugitive Operations Program (NFOP) within the ERO directorate.

The primary mission of NFOP is to reduce the fugitive alien population in the United States. NFOP identifies, locates and arrests fugitive aliens, aliens that have been previously removed from the United States, removable aliens who have been convicted of crimes, as well as aliens who enter the United States illegally or otherwise defy the integrity of our immigration laws and border control efforts.

ICE encourages the public to report criminal activity and related information by calling at 1-866-DHS-2ICE.