U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Vietnamese Immigrant Wishes He'd Become a U.S. Citizen Before Cocaine Bust

Born two years before the end of the Vietnam War in Saigon, Dinh Canh Tran lived under dictatorial communist rule until about 1989 when his family relocated to the Philippines in route to live permanently in the United States. You might guess that living in a country where citizens have no real rig ... More >>

South Coast Plaza-Area Cocaine Dealer Wins Long Prison Trip

A federal law-enforcement investigation into a Canada-based narcotics-and-money-laundering network operating in Southern California has resulted in the loss of freedom for a 33-year-old man who participated in a South Coast Plaza-area deal for 37 kilograms of cocaine. Unbeknownst to Jun Jie Zhang, ... More >>

Two May Day Marches Set for Anaheim, Santa Ana for Immigrant/Workers Rights

International Workers' Day in Orange County will be marked by not one, but two marches in two cities. Starting off this morning, the Orange County Labor Federation will assemble at 11 a.m. outside Anaheim City Hall; from there, a march is to go to a rally in La Palma Park. Later today in SanTana, th ... More >>

Brea Mall Methamphetamine Dealer Wins Prison Trip

Two Pakistani males who unwittingly tried to sell 335.6 grams of methamphetamine for $12,000 in the Brea Mall parking lot to two confidential, government informants have both now been sentenced for their 2010 crime. We told you about the fate of 30-year-old, Orange County 7-Eleven clerk Noman Saeed ... More >>

Jessica Karp, UCI Adjunct Professor, Seeks to Expose ICE's "Secret" Meetings with Gov. Brown

The American public must be let in on what's going on behind closed doors regarding the federal government's attempts to preserve the full force of its controversial Secure Communities immigration enforcement program, a UC Irvine law professor argues."There's a public right to know about issues surr ... More >>

Latin Grammy Nominated and Sin Papeles: The Story of La Santa Cecilia's Pepe Carlos

La Santa Cecilia's music video for its latest single "El Hielo (ICE)" premieres today, but this writer got a sneak peek two weekends ago! With Chris Newman of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) present in Anaheim for an event in celebration of jornalero Jose Ucelo, he took the occas ... More >>

Celebration Planned for Jose Ucelo, Day Laborer Done Wrong!

Jose Ucelo Gonzalez has much to celebrate these days, but that wasn't always the case for the day laborer. A year ago on March 9, 2012, he was picked up in West Anaheim by "Nick," a contractor who real name was Michael Tebb. After ten hours of toiling on a job in Garden Grove, Ucelo was falsely accu ... More >>

Workers Picket Local Contractor Who Called ICE on Two Employees That Filed Wage Complaint

Picketing workers assembled along Orangethorpe Avenue in Placentia today outside Prime Waterproofing Incorporated. In an action sponsored by Chican@s Unidos, they held signs calling out local contractor Paul LaHaye as a rat for questionable practices in an ongoing labor dispute. As owner of the comp ... More >>

La Santa Cecilia's New Immigrant Song "El Hielo (ICE)" Could Melt a Know Nothing's Heart!

The debate over immigration in the United States is too often mired in doublespeak and the vitriol of xenophobia. As musicians, La Santa Cecilia chose a humanizing and harmonizing tone for their new single "El Hielo (ICE)." The Los Angeles-based Latin Grammy-nominated band tackles the issue head on ... More >>

Mexican Boat Delivery of 1,200 Pounds of Marijuana to Laguna Beach Nets Charges

Eighty-five miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border in the wee hours of Feb. 4, men wearing black clothes in a 30-foot panga boat delivered 1,200 pounds of marijuana to the shore at Crystal Cove in Laguna Beach, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report.Using thermal imaging ... More >>

OC DREAMers to Demand OC Sheriff Sandra Hutchens Stop Collaborating with ICE

It's been one hell of a busy week for any and all things immigrant! From the Gang of 8's framework for immigration reform to the Deporter-in-Chief Barack Obama's own speech on the subject in Las Vegas, politicians have been putting their dos centavos in. After Inauguration Day banner drops along the ... More >>

Stanley Kuo Jua Yang Gets 30 Months for Hawking Knock-Offs of Exercise Machines

An Irvine man was sentenced this morning to 30 months in federal prison for hawking counterfeit goods, including knock-offs of Bowflex, Ab Circle Pro and Malibu Pilates exercise machines.United States District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner in Los Angeles immediately remanded Stanley Kuo Jua Yang, 3 ... More >>

Federal Judge Kinda Likes ICE, Kinda Doesn't In Ruling Over Fullerton Factory Raid

In an October 25 ruling, a federal judge decided that Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a reasonable records search in response to a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The case follows a June 2010 ICE raid on Terra Universal factory in Fullerton where 43 undo ... More >>

Day Laborer Faces Deportation After Anaheim Employer Who Hired Him Filed False Police Report

Jose Ucelo Gonzalez sought an honest day's work and compensation as many do outside the Home Depot on Brookhurst Street and Crescent Avenue in Anaheim back in March. The day laborer was hired by Michael Tebb, an Anaheim employer who used "Nick" as an alias, for a job in Garden Grove that unfortunate ... More >>

Isn't DACA Just a Ruse to Identify and Deport DREAM Act Students?

[¡Ask a Mexican!] And why might a Mexican family hate a wealthy Mexi-and-white couple?

Chad Peter Smanjak Cops to Scam with Sports Drink Named After Notre Dame's Famous Rudy

A former Long Beach resident who fled to South Africa as a fugitive pleaded guilty to orchestrating a scam involving a sports drink named after Notre Dame's most famous football benchwarmer.Chad Peter Smanjak, 38, copped in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud ... More >>

DA Refuses To Prosecute Idiot ICE Agent Who Fired Two Shots At Innocent Man in Anaheim

The bumbling federal agent who fired two gunshots at an innocent, unarmed man sitting in an SUV located between him and an occupied Anaheim elementary school won't be prosecuted, the Orange County District Attorney's office announced today.Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Justin Wiessner wi ... More >>

Arizona Senate Bill 1070's Days of Rage

[Crossing the Line] The U.S. Supreme Court and President Barack Obama leave the undocumented and their allies no choice but to escalate civil disobedience

Dana Point Harbor Marijuana Smuggler Sentenced in Federal Court

On July 9, 2011, David Rex Wilterding and his son Justin arrived in Dana Point Harbor on a 23-foot boat from Mexico and won unwanted attention by acting suspiciously.Two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the area noticed the men loitering near a boat ramp, confronted them and ... More >>

Crean Lutheran High School Teacher Arrested For Sexually Explicit Messages

The Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force arrested a private Irvine high school English teacher/coach late last week on charges involving sexually explicit text messages and photos he allegedly sent a female student.The task force--including officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I ... More >>

Danny Noriego Doesn't Like ICE

[Moxley Confidential] Why are government officials protecting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who almost killed an innocent Anaheim man?

[UPDATED with New Not Guilty Plea:] Itzcoatl Ocampo, Serial Killer Suspect, Accused of 6 Fatal Stabbings

​UPDATE, FEB. 21, 11:40 A.M.: To give you the proper visual for this post, picture Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo at right with an al Qaeda beard. That's how he appeared in a Santa Ana courtroom this morning when he pleaded not guilty to the stabbing-murders of a mother, her son and four homeless men sinc ... More >>

[BREAKING!] Whitney Houston's Death was a Barack Obama-Hollywood Illuminati Rub Out

​What do Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Barack Obama, a marijuana-toting pilot who wandered into the presidential airspace leaving Corona del Mar and the shooting of two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Long Beach have in common?They are all connected to the Hollywood Illuminati A ... More >>

[UPDATED with Widow's Comments:] Ezequiel Garcia is Killed and Kevin Kozak Wounded in Shootings at ICE Offices

​UPDATE, FEB. 20, 2:30 P.M.: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Ezequiel Garcia was asking for a transfer to be closer to his Murrieta home before Thursday evening's shootings that left Garcia dead and his supervisor Kevin Kozak wounded, the deceased's widow tells KCAL/Channel 9 News. ... More >>

Meichun Cheng Huang, Irvine Toy Executive, Gets Prison Time for Laundering Drug Money

Angel Toy Co.​The company literature says Angel Toy Co. distributes teddy bears and other stuffed animals around the world.According to the sentences handed down today, sisters Ling Yu of Arcadia and Meichun Cheng Huang of Irvine are spending the next three years in federal prison for using t ... More >>

Gary Samuel Cochran, Who Filmed Video of 8-year-old Girl Having Sex, Gets 26 Years

​Gary Samuel Cochran, a registered sex offender who was among 55 men nabbed after a multi-agency probe into child pornography exchanged via peer-to-peer networks like Limewire, was sentenced Monday to 26 years in federal prison. The 53-year-old had agreed in September to a plea deal after federal ... More >>

Oytun Ayse Mihalik, Turkish National Living in OC, Accused of Funding Pakistan Terrorists

​Ah, Pakistan, that U.S. . . . ahem . . . ally with the homegrown terrorists trying to blow up American soldiers and citizens abroad. Let's us keep those special friends in mind while checking out this: Oytun Ayse Mihalik of La Palma has been indicted on federal charges of providing material suppo ... More >>

Dora Landaverde-Torres, Wife of School Board Member, Faces Deportation

​The wife of a Moreno Valley school board member is currently in lockup in Santa Ana. But Dora Landaverde-Torres is not sitting on a cold bunk due to a DUI crash, a shoplifting charge or swinging her purse at a Santa Ana cop. She's not even in the city jail. The wife of Mike Rios, who wants to run ... More >>

[UPDATED With Email From an Arrested DREAMer] Five Undocumented College Students Detained at ICE Offices in Los Angeles After Sit-In; Three from Orange County

​UPDATE, 2:39 p.m.: Francisco Javier Bravo, one of the arrested OC DREAMers, sent out an email to friends explaining the reasoning behind the protest."Hello Family/Friend/Ally," his email began. "Today I will be risking arrest to bring attention to one of my very important issues."

[UPDATED with Defendant's Claims, New Details:] Samuel Martinez Gonzalez Accused of Bringing Teen Girls From Texas to Work for Him as Prostitutes

​UPDATE, AUG. 16, 12:04 P.M.: Through the court affidavit and his appearance before a federal magistrate in Santa Ana Monday afternoon, we now know Samuel Martinez Gonzalez's side of the story that has him facing a maximum sentence of life behind bars if convicted.The 26-year-old Santa Ana man cl ... More >>

[UPDATED with Manslaughter Count:] Leovardo Vera Bustos, OC Homicide No. 33: Dies From Single Punch

Medina-Perez​UPDATE, AUG. 5, 10:19 A.M.: As expected, amended charges have been filed against 24-year-old Oscar Raul Medina-Perez in the death of Leovardo Vera Bustos, who died from brain injuries two weeks after taking a single punch in front of La Barca Night Club in Stanton on July 5.However, ... More >>

Pedro Pimentel Rios, Accused in Civil War Atrocity, Deported to Guatemala

Courtesy ICEAdios, Rios.​Pedro Pimentel Rios, 54, an erstwhile maintenance worker from Santa Ana, has been deported to Guatemala to stand trial for his involvement in the most notorious massacre of that country's civil war. Along with several other suspects who have been rounded up in the US, Cana ... More >>

[UPDATED with ICE Suspending Deportation:] Isaura Garcia, Battered Woman Facing Deportation, Embodies Problems with ICE Program

​UPDATE, MAY 13, 5:26 P.M.: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has informed the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) that it is dropping deportation proceedings against Isaura Garcia. Meanwhile, Joseph Huprich, the woman's pro bono attorney, says Ga ... More >>

Transgendered, Gay ICE Detainees Sue Over Treatment at Theo Lacy Jail

​Guards at Theo Lacy Jail routinely taunted transgendered immigration detainees, abusing them with anti-gay slurs and intrusive and unnecessary searches, while also keeping them locked in their cells for 22 hours a day, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of 13 detainees. According to ... More >>

Ajit, Nisha and Runjhun Bhargava, Yorba Linda Family, Busted for Allegedly Arranging Sham Marriages

​A Yorba Linda family was scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Santa Ana Wednesday on charges of arranging sham marriages so more than 20 foreigners could stay in the country legally.Ajit Bhargava, his 56-year-old wife Nisha Bhargava and their daughter Runjhun Bhargava, 30, are facing cha ... More >>

Immigration Detainee Dies at Theo Lacy Jail

​Remember that cover story that ran in the Weekly a few weeks back about suicides and strange deaths inside Orange County Jails? The one that mentioned how the Sheriff's Dept. is filling up empty bunks with hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees? Well, now we can add an IC ... More >>

Who'll Stop the Pain?

A recent spate of suicides and strange deaths inside Orange County's jails has jail staff and activists alike clamoring for reform

[UPDATED] Rachel Ann Hicks Busted for Allegedly Raping Maryland Boy She Met in X-Box Chat Room

​Update, Jan. 17, 3:14 p.m.: Lake Forest resident Rachel Ann Hicks, 36, signed a court waiver last week allowing her to be extradited to Maryland to answer to charges she had sex with a 13-year-old boy in his bedroom around Thanksgiving 2010.Hicks was being held without bail in Orange County for t ... More >>

Regina Husman and Eveline Rahardja, Daughter and Mother Held by ICE in Santa Ana, Spark Petition Drive

​Thousands of people around the world have signed petitions calling for the release of a Cal State Fullerton student and her mother, who have been shuffled around detention facilities and were sitting in a Santa Ana Jail cell at last report. Biology major Regina Husman, who is vice president of th ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Matthew Lloyd Crippen Escapes Charges of Illegal Modification of Xbox Consoles

​Update, December 6, 12:07 p.m.: A tip to you budding prosecutors out there: When a judge says, "I really don't understand what we're doing here," your case is in serious jeopardy. That's what U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez said last week in Los Angeles before the U.S. Attorney's Office anno ... More >>

Government Shuts Down Torrent Sites; Where Will People Steal Music Now?

ICE's message on the seized sites​The New York Times reported that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, seized a number of sites that "either hosted unauthorized copies of films and music or allowed users to search for them elsewhere on the In ... More >>

From Bogus Birther Cases to Bogus Immigration Trend for Orly Taitz Crony

​Media Matters, the nonprofit, Web-based, progressive research and information center "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media," discovered that Slate.com used a dubious source for an article that asked, "Are a small number o ... More >>

ACLU Accuses Feds of Retaliatory Deportation of Whistleblower Who Sued Fullerton Company

​The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is "deeply concerned" over federal immigration agents detaining and initiating deportation proceedings against an immigrant worker who filed a federal class action lawsuit against a Fullerton-based firm in August for labor and civil rights violations. ... More >>

Feds Allege "Pump and Dump" Fraud Involving Panamanian Banks, Long Beach Fugitive and Sports Drink Named After Notre Dame's Rudy

Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger​A Long Beach man who is believed to have fled to his native South Africa has been charged with running a $5.2-million "pump and dump" investment fraud that involved a sports drink named after Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger of Notre Dame football and Rudy movie fame, money launde ... More >>

Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Day

​Headline: Vigil Tonight for Failed Illegal Immigrant ActComment by JDYBARRA: Why can't they DREAM in Mexico? Comment by SURFCITYRED: Great!! Have ICE show up and toss a big net over their ungrateful a$$es. Cinch up the net, toss their illegal butts on a bus and dump them back in Mexico. Then ... More >>

Task Force Raids La Habra Grow Room, Arrests 3, Seizes 60 Marijuana Plants

View Larger Map A group a group that included La Habra police, Placentia police, Orange County and Anaheim SWAT and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raided a La Habra warehouse Thursday and seized 60 plants from a marijuana grow room. Three were arrested.

[¡Ask a Mexican!] Uncle Tom's Wabbin'

Report: Local Cops Abuse Federal Immigration Authority

A report released last night to the House Committee on Homeland Security from the General Accounting Office (GAO) says that poor oversight of a controversial program that trains state and local police to identify illegal immigrants involved in crime has allowed some cops to focus on minor busts rath ... More >>

May Day rally not so big this year

Santa Ana police spokesman Jose Gonzales says a multi-police agency force of about 185 officers, some just on standby, were on duty to keep the peace as an expected 6,000 people were to march for immigrant rights downtown. But when the event actually went down, there were nearly as many cops and m ... More >>

Monday's Headlines. No Surprises: Shaky ground for the mayor-who-would-be-governor

Preparing for deportation: In the past fiscal year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement made almost twice as many arrests (30,396) in its fugitive operations program as it did the previous year, reports the Register. ICE also picked up more than 4,000 illegals in workplace raids - up 11 percent fro ... More >>