ICE arrests 33 with
history of human rights violation across the US during Operation No Safe Haven
IV
- Photos and b-roll available here
WASHINGTON — U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations
arrested 33 fugitives sought for their roles in known or suspected human rights
violations during a nationwide operation this week.
During the
three-day operation that concluded Wednesday, the ICE National Fugitive
Operations Program in coordination with the ICE Human Rights Violators and War
Crimes Center and the ICE National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center
(NCATC), arrested these fugitives via the ICE field offices of Atlanta;
Baltimore; Boston; Chicago; Denver; Detroit; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami; New
Orleans; New York City; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Seattle; San Francisco; and St.
Paul, Minnesota.
The foreign nationals arrested during this
operation all have outstanding removal orders and are subject to repatriation
to their countries of origin. Of the 33 known or suspected human rights
violators arrested during Operation No Safe Haven IV,
eight individuals are also criminal aliens with convictions for crimes
including, but not limited to battery, weapons offenses, driving while
intoxicated, and resisting arrest. This operation surpassed the number of known
or suspected human rights violators arrested during the first nationwide No
Safe Haven operation, which took place in September 2014.
“This
operation continues ICE’s work to ensure that the United States does not serve
as a safe haven for those who commit human rights violations in their countries
of origin,” said Thomas D. Homan, Deputy Director of ICE. “We will continue
to pursue these individuals as priorities for enforcement— using our agency’s
unique authorities to investigate criminal activity and to enforce immigration
laws.”
Those arrested
across the country included:
- Four Chinese individuals—some of whom were hospital
employees—who assisted in or directly conducted forced abortions and
sterilizations upon victims in China;
- A former intelligence officer who surveilled and
arrested dozens of targets subsequently tortured in Central America;
- A soldier in Central America who guided the military to
a specific village for the purpose of killing its residents;
- A ranking intelligence officer from the Middle East
whose surveillance information led to the arrest, torture, and murder of
those his unit targeted;
- A group leader in East Africa who used violence to
force victims into Female Genital Mutilation.
ICE is committed to rooting out known or
suspected human rights violators who seek a safe haven in the United
States. ICE's Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center investigates human rights violators who try
to evade justice by seeking shelter in the United States, including those who
are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes,
genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, and the use or recruitment of child
soldiers. These individuals may use fraudulent identities or falsified records
to enter the country and attempt to blend into communities in the United
States.
Members of the public who have information
about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war
crimes are urged to contact ICE by calling the toll-free ICE tip line at
1-866-347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also
email HRV.ICE@ice.dhs.gov or complete ICE’s online
tip form.
The HRVWCC was
established in 2009 to further ICE’s efforts to identify, locate and prosecute
human rights abusers in the United States, including those who are known or
suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture,
extrajudicial killings, female genital mutilation and the use or recruitment of
child soldiers. The HRVWCC leverages the expertise of a select group of agents,
lawyers, intelligence and research specialists, historians and analysts who
direct the agency’s broader enforcement efforts against these offenders.
Since 2003, ICE
has arrested more than 395 individuals for human rights-related violations of
the law under various criminal and/or immigration statutes. During that same
period, ICE obtained deportation orders against and physically removed 835
known or suspected human rights violators from the United States.
Additionally, ICE has facilitated the departure of an additional 112 such
individuals from the United States.
Currently, HSI has
more than 130 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and
is pursuing more than 1,750 leads and removals cases involving suspected human
rights violators from 95 different countries. Since 2003, the HRVWCC has issued
more than 74,000 lookouts for individuals from more than 110 countries and
stopped over 234 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering
the U.S.
The NCATC provided
critical investigative support for this operation, including criminal and
intelligence analysis from a variety of sources. The NCATC provides
comprehensive analytical support to aid the at-large enforcement efforts of all
ICE components.
ICE credits the
success of this operation to the combined efforts of the U.S. National Central
Bureau-Interpol Washington, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
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