Monday, February 24, 2014

FY 2013 ICE Immigration Removals



MAKING IMMIGRATION HAPPEN
Prevent Deportation! 
Call Now:
203-612-55203-612-5548

 Visit us on the website: www.uslegalvisa.com

FY 2013 ICE Immigration Removals

Information collected from ICE.gov

Overview

In addition to its criminal investigative responsibilities, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shares responsibility for enforcing the nation's civil immigration laws with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). ICE's role in the immigration enforcement system is focused on two primary missions: (1) the identification and apprehension of criminal aliens and other removable individuals located in the United States; and (2) the detention and removal of those individuals apprehended in the interior of the U.S., as well as those apprehended by CBP officers and agents patrolling our nation's borders.
In executing these responsibilities, ICE has prioritized its limited resources on the identification and removal of criminal aliens and those apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully enter the United States. This report provides an overview of ICE Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 civil immigration enforcement and removal operations:
In FY 2013:
  • ICE conducted a total of 368,644 removals.
  • ICE conducted 133,551 removals of individuals apprehended in the interior of the U.S.
    • 82 percent of all interior removals had been previously convicted of a crime.
  • ICE conducted 235,093 removals of individuals apprehended along our borders while attempting to unlawfully enter the U.S.
  • 59 percent of all ICE removals, a total of 216,810, had been previously convicted of a crime.
    • ICE apprehended and removed 110,115 criminals removed from the interior of the U.S.
    • ICE removed 106,695 criminals apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully enter the U.S.
  • 98 percent of all ICE FY 2013 removals, a total of 360,313, met one or more of ICE's stated civil immigration enforcement priorities.
  • Of the 151,834 removals of individuals without a criminal conviction, 84 percent, or 128,398, were apprehended at the border while attempting to unlawfully enter the U.S. and 95 percent fell within one of ICE's stated immigration enforcement priorities.
The leading countries of origin for those removed were Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.


Prevent Deportation! 
Call Now:
203-612-5548

Monday, January 13, 2014

El Paso convicted predator arrested again on child pornography charges



M.C. LAW GROUP, LLP
MAKING IMMIGRATION HAPPEN
 203-612-5548

 Visit us on the website: www.uslegalvisa.com


El Paso convicted predator arrested again on child pornography charges

EL PASO, Texas – A convicted sex offender, who is also required to register as a sex offender for life, remains in federal custody after his arrest Wednesday on child pornography charges.
This case was investigated by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Christopher Peter Swan, 30, is charged with possessing, receiving and distributing child pornography.
HSI special agents assigned to HSI’s Cyber Crimes Group executed a federal search warrant Jan. 8 at Swan’s home in northeast El Paso. The special agents seized various items including desktop computers, external drives and other electronic media devices. A preliminary forensic examination of the desktop computers revealed videos depicting minors being sexually exploited.
According to court records, Swan told HSI special agents he downloaded and possesses a large amount of child pornography. He stated he prefers child pornography that involves 10-year-old children and older.
Swan is a registered sex offender, who was arrested July 27, 2005, for possessing and distributing child pornography. On Dec. 12, 2006, following his conviction, he was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison, which was to be followed by five years of supervised release. He was released from prison in 2012.
"Crimes against children will not be tolerated," said Dennis A. Ulrich, special agent in charge of HSI El Paso. "HSI will pursue anyone who sexually exploits children."
The advent of technologies, such as the Internet, has tremendously increased predators’ accessibility to child pornography, Ulrich said. But HSI can use similar technologies to identify and catch these child predators.
Swan made his initial appearance Jan. 9 in court, where a U.S. federal magistrate judge ordered him to remain detained pending court proceedings. His detention hearing is set for Jan. 14.
This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.
HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

Information collected from ICE.gov

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Immigration Lawyer Alex Meyerovich is Selected for Superlawyers 2013


M.C. LAW GROUP, LLP
MAKING IMMIGRATION HAPPEN
 203-612-5548
 Visit us on the website: www.uslegalvisa.com


M.C. Law Group is proud to announce that Immigration Attorney Alex Meyerovich was selected for the Super Lawyers “Connecticut Rising Star 2013” list. 

Super Lawyers is an established rating service for selecting outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition for their professional achievement. Super Lawyers selection is a multi-phased process that includes independent research, peer nomination and peer evaluations. Only the 2.5 top percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected. 

Alex Meyerovich is an immigration attorney at M.C. Law Group, located in Bridgeport, CT. In 2007 attorney Meyerovich co-founded M.C. Law Group, LLP and remains Managing Partner of the firm. The M.C. Law Group is a full service immigration law firm, handling cases in all areas of immigration and nationality law, and representing clients located throughout the world and the U.S.

For more information please visit us at www.uslegalvisa.com

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

HSI seizes 60,000 counterfeit items worth $2 million from Alabama flea market



M.C. LAW GROUP, LLP
MAKING IMMIGRATION HAPPEN
 203-612-5548
 Visit us on the website: www.uslegalvisa.com


WETUMPKA, Ala. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in coordination with Alabama state police and the Elmore County Sheriff's Department seized approximately 60,000 counterfeit items from an Alabama flea market Saturday worth a total manufacturer's suggested retail price of more than $2.04 million. The seized items include counterfeit designer clothing, handbags, shoes, sportswear and electronics.
HSI seized counterfeit merchandise from 47 vendors offering fraudulent items for sale within the Santuk Flea Market located at 7300 Central Plank Road in Wetumpka following a six month federal investigation by HSI special agents. ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers also arrested two individuals for immigration-related violations. The flea market itself and legitimate vendors on the premises remained open during the operation.
"Criminals who sell counterfeit products are economic parasites who harm legitimate businesses that pay taxes, create jobs and support our national economy," said Special Agent in Charge of HSI New Orleans Raymond R. Parmer Jr. "Anyone who thinks counterfeiting is a victimless crime should realize the profits of these black-market sales are routinely diverted to support further criminal activity such as drug trafficking, money laundering and even potential terrorism."
Parmer oversees a five-state area of responsibility including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
HSI seized counterfeit merchandise infringing upon the trademarks of more than 30 different brands to include Michael Kors, Nike, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Coach, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the National Football League (NFL). Approximately 100 HSI, state and local law enforcement officers participated in the Saturday operation.
These seizures were part of Operation Team Player, a National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center)-led initiative that targets the sale and trafficking of counterfeit sports merchandise and apparel, a multimillion dollar criminal industry. The trafficking of these items is a lucrative business for criminals and becomes more profitable in markets involving successful and popular teams. The culmination of the sports season, all-star games and the playoffs are events that especially stimulate the sale of counterfeit items in local communities around the country.
The HSI-led IPR Center is one of the U.S. government's key weapons in the fight against criminal counterfeiting and piracy. Working in close coordination with the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property, the IPR Center uses the expertise of its 21-member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions and conduct investigations related to intellectual property theft. Through this strategic interagency partnership, the IPR Center protects the public's health and safety and the U.S. economy.


Information collected from ICE.gov
September 7, 2013
Wetumpka, AL


Thursday, August 29, 2013

Don't text and drive



M.C. LAW GROUP, LLP
MAKING IMMIGRATION HAPPEN
 203-373-9080
 Visit us on the website: www.uslegalvisa.com

Information collected from CNN.com

(CNN) -- We've all heard the dictum: Don't text and drive. Now a New Jersey state appeals court has an addendum: Don't knowingly text a driver -- or you could be held liable if he causes a crash.
Kyle Best was behind the wheel of his pickup in September 2009 driving down a rural highway when Shannon Colonna sent him a text.
The two were teens at the time. He was 18; she was 17, and they were dating. They sent each other 62 texts that day, according to court documents.
In the opposing lane of traffic, David Kubert was cruising along on a big, blue touring motorcycle with his wife, Linda, along for the ride. They approached Best at exactly the wrong time.
A court summary of the times of texts and calls to and from Best's cell phone reflect what happened next:
The teens were having a text chat, volleying each other messages every few moments.
Seventeen seconds after Best sent a text, he was calling a 911 operator.
His truck had drifted across the double center line and hit the Kuberts head-on.
The scene Best described to the emergency operator was most certainly gruesome.
"The collision severed, or nearly severed David's left leg. It shattered Linda's left leg, leaving her fractured thighbone protruding out of the skin as she lay injured in the road," the court document said.
Best hung up. Colonna texted him two more times.
The court did not publish the contents of their messages.
The lawsuit
The Kuberts both lost their legs. They sued.
But they didn't just go after Best. They included Colonna in the lawsuit.
In their minds, she was distracting him and was also responsible for their pain and loss.
They settled with Best and lost against Colonna, but they appealed that decision.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Stephen Weinstein, argued that the text sender was electronically in the car with the driver receiving the text and should be treated like someone sitting next to him willfully causing a distraction, legal analyst Marc Saperstein told CNN affiliate WPIX-TV.
The argument seemed to work.
The ruling
On Tuesday, three appeals court judges agreed with it -- in principle.
They ruled that if the sender of text messages knows that the recipient is driving and texting at the same time, a court may hold the sender responsible for distraction and hold him or her liable for the accident.
"We hold that the sender of a text message can potentially be liable if an accident is caused by texting, but only if the sender knew or had special reason to know that the recipient would view the text while driving and thus be distracted," the court said.
But the judges let Colonna off the hook.
She had a habit of sending more than 100 texts a day and was oblivious to whether recipients were driving or not.
"I'm a young teenager. That's what we do," she said in her deposition before the original trial.
Since she was unaware that Best was texting while driving, she bore no responsibility, the court decided.
"In this appeal, we must also decide whether plaintiffs have shown sufficient evidence to defeat summary judgment in favor of the remote texter. We conclude they have not," it said.
The reaction
During the trial, Colonna, now 21, found it "weird" that the plaintiffs tried to nail down whether she knew Best was texting behind the wheel, the court document said.
The judges' decision has elicited a similar response from the state's governor, Chris Christie.
The driver is ultimately responsible, he said. Not someone sending him a text.
"You have the obligation to keep your eyes on the road, your hands on the wheel and pay attention to what you're doing," he told radio station New Jersey 101.5.
Other New Jerseyites agreed.
"That's completely absurd, just because you know you're driving doesn't mean, it really doesn't mean they know you're looking at it," Joe Applegate told WPIX.
"Even talking to the driver can distract them, so they are going to arrest for someone who simply talked to someone who is driving?" Louise McKellip asked.
The future
New Jersey has been cracking down hard on texting and driving in recent years, implementing new laws and regulations that treat it in a similar manner as drunken driving if it involves an injury accident.
The state passed a law last year based on the fate of the Kuberts and others who had been killed or maimed by texting motorists.
The "Kulesh, Kubert and Bolish's Law" makes distracted driving a crime if the driver causes an accident. Fines for bodily injury run as high as $150,000, and the driver can go to jail for up to 10 years.
And new legislation proposed by state Sen. James Holzapfel would let police thumb through cellphones if they have "reasonable grounds" to believe the driver was talking or texting when the wreck occurred.
The bill has set off alarm bells with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

ICE deports Sandra Avila Beltran



M.C. LAW GROUP, LLP
MAKING IMMIGRATION HAPPEN
 203-373-9080
 Visit us on the website: www.uslegalvisa.com

Information collected from ice.go
August 20, 2013
El Paso, TX

ICE deports Sandra Avila Beltran
Avila Beltran, a convicted accessory to drug traffickers, was flown to Mexico City

EL PASO, Texas – A Mexican woman convicted of being an accessory after the fact in aiding cocaine traffickers, and known to international media outlets as the "Queen of the Pacific" for her alleged ties to the Sinaloa drug cartel, was deported to Mexico Tuesday morning by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Avila Beltran, 52, a convicted aggravated felon, was among 129 ICE detainees flown from El Paso to Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, where she was turned over to Mexican authorities on Aug. 20.
In August 2012, Avila Beltran was paroled into the United States to face U.S. federal charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine in Florida. ICE officers in Miami placed a detainer on Avila Beltran while she was in custody at the Miami Federal Detention Center.
On April 23, Avila Beltran pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to the crime of drug trafficking, and on July 25 she was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison, with credit for time served.
Avila Beltran was released from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons July 30 and turned over to ICE custody. At that time, she was processed to be administratively deported to Mexico as an aggravated felon.
"The deportation of this convicted aggravated felon, and thousands of others, is the result of the robust working relationship ICE has with the government of Mexico," said Adrian P. Macias, field office director of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations in El Paso. "The partnership goes hand-in-hand with ICE’s commitment to smart, effective immigration enforcement that targets serious criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, such as those charged with major drug offenses."
Avila Beltran was repatriated via an Interior Repatriation Initiative (IRI) flight. The IRI is a joint agreement between the governments of the United States and Mexico to provide the humane, safe and orderly repatriation of Mexican nationals.
The goal of the IRI, which began as a pilot program in 2012 and was signed as a permanent initiative April 18, is to return Mexican nationals to the interior of Mexico. Having this framework will reduce recidivism and border violence by returning Mexican nationals to their cities of origin, where there is a higher likelihood that they will reintegrate themselves back into their communities, rather than fall victim to human trafficking or other crimes in Mexican border towns.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Alabama man sentenced to 121 months for using Internet to entice minor



M.C. LAW GROUP, LLP
MAKING IMMIGRATION HAPPEN
 203-373-9080
 Visit us on the website: www.uslegalvisa.com



Information collected from ice.go
August 21, 2013
Panama City, FL

Alabama man sentenced to 121 months for using Internet to entice minor

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – An Alabama man was sentenced Wednesday to 121 months in federal prison for using the Internet in an attempt to persuade, induce and entice a minor to engage in sexual activity. This case was investigated by the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office and the Gainesville Police Department.
Evidence presented during a three day trial in April proved that on June 14, 2012, law enforcement officers posed as a 14-year-old boy named Skylar and responded to an advertisement titled "Last call!!!! – m4m – 1840 (PCB/Laguna Beach)." This advertisement was posted under the casual encounters section of Craigslist.org.
For the next 48 hours, Thomas Monroe Lee, 40, of Gadsden, engaged in email chats and text messages with Skylar that were sexual in nature. Lee subsequently drove to a location where he had arranged to meet Skylar. Lee planned to transport Skylar back to his Alabama residence to engage in sexual activity. However, once Lee arrived at the location, officers from various law enforcement agencies arrested him for attempted online enticement of a child.
The court also ordered Lee to pay a $1,000 fine and serve seven years of supervised release following his prison term.
"The Internet is a dangerous place, and we are determined to protect and provide justice to victims of Internet crime," said U.S. Attorney Pamela C. Marsh. "Adult predators who seek to harm our children will be pursued and prosecuted by our office in cooperation with our law enforcement partners."
"This man drove across state lines for the sole purpose of engaging in sexual relations with a child he believed to be 14 years old," said Shane Folden, deputy special agent in charge of HSI Tampa, which oversees the agency’s Panama City office that participated in the investigation. "Our joint law enforcement efforts have successfully put this man behind bars for the next 10 years where he can no longer prey on innocent children."
The investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.
HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.