According
to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Socorro,
Texas
man conspired with other "coyotes" to smuggle more than 1,500 illegal
aliens into the
United States
. ICE special agents arrested Samuel Walter Jarvis and 14 other members of two
alien smuggling organizations in January. Jarvis was sentenced to 108 months in
federal prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. On August 7, Jarvis pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to smuggle aliens and admitted that from March
2003 to December 2005, he led a ring that was responsible for smuggling aliens
into the
United States
and transporting them from
El Paso
to the
Dallas
area. David F. Fry, acting special agent in charge of the ICE Office in
El Paso
, said that during the two year investigation, ICE agents encountered various
smuggled groups of 35 to 79 people crammed into trailers for the non-stop nine
hour trip to
Dallas
from
El Paso
with no food and limited water. The investigation revealed that Jarvis and his
associates collected more than $1.6 million in smuggling fees between 2003 and
2005.
Jarvis,
along with Mike Price and his wife Fabiola
del
Carmen Moguel de Price, originally worked together. In 2003 the Prices left the
Jarvis organization to establish their own alien smuggling network. Both
organizations housed the aliens in drop houses throughout
El Paso
County
after smuggling them into the
United States
. Depending on the nationality, they charged each alien between $1,500 and
$6,000 to be smuggled into the
U.S.
The Prices each received 60 months in prison.
*****
Four
illegal aliens plead guilty to manufacturing and distributing fraudulent
documents along the
Mississippi
Gulf
Coast
following an investigation by ICE agents. Camilo Calihua-Leynes, Raymundo
Sanchez-Martinez, Juan Manuel Calihua-Garcia and Enrique Hernandez-Cabrera were
all arrested for producing and selling counterfeit government identification
documents. Subsequent to their arrest, a federal search warrant was executed at
their residence in
Biloxi
,
Mississippi
where numerous fraudulent alien registration cards, Social Security cards and
document manufacturing equipment were seized. Also encountered at the residence
were 15 illegal aliens from
Mexico
,
El Salvador
and
Guatemala
, who were later processed and entered into deportation proceedings. After
completing their sentences, all four defendants will be turned over to the ICE
and placed into removal proceedings.
*****
U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the removal of Kelbessa Negewo, a
human rights violator. On October 19 officers from the Atlanta Field Office
escorted Negewo, an Ethiopian citizen, to
Addis Ababa
where he was turned over to law enforcement representatives. Negewo served as
chairman of the Higher Zone 9, one of several units in
Addis Ababa
which employed a campaign of torture, arbitrary imprisonment and summary
executions against perceived enemies of the government.
An ICE investigation revealed that Negewo had made false statements about
his past human rights violations to obtain
U.S.
citizenship.
Negewo’s
removal is the latest accomplishment under ICE’s ongoing initiative to
identify, apprehend, prosecute and remove human rights violators.
*****
ICE
agents and officers apprehended 49 criminal aliens, fugitive aliens, and other
immigration status violators as part of a four-day southwest
Idaho
interior immigration enforcement operation known as "Operation Return to
Sender". The operation began on October 16 in
Boise
where 22 arrests were made. ICE officers continued the
Idaho
operation in
Nampa
,
Caldwell
,
Meridian
and Eagle, and made 27 additional arrests. Among the 49 individuals arrested in
the
Idaho
operation, so far 31 have already returned to
Mexico
.
The
arrests are the latest enforcement actions under the interior immigration
enforcement strategy that was announced April 20 by Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff and Assistant Secretary Julie Myers. The interior enforcement
strategy is part of the Secure Border Initiative, which is the Department of
Homeland Security’s comprehensive, multi-year plan to secure
America
’s borders and reduce illegal migration. The interior enforcement strategy
complements the Department’s border security efforts by expanding existing
efforts to target immigration violators inside this country, employers of
illegal aliens, as well as the many criminal networks that support these
activities.