ALIEN RAPISTS, PEDOPHILES AND OTHER SEXUAL PREDATORS APPREHENDED FOR DEPORTATION
ICE and NYC Probation team up to identify and remove immigrant sex offenders

NEW YORK, NY — Michael J. Garcia, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Martin F. Horn, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Probation today announced the arrest of 25 sexual predators and criminal alien sex offenders in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx. The operation continues to target an additional eight individuals.

The arrests are part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from criminal alien sex offenders, child sex tourists, Internet child pornographers, and human traffickers.

Among those arrested were a 38-year old Honduras man convicted of rape, sodomy and five counts of sexual abuse on a 14-year-old, and a 44-year old Guyana man convicted of sexual abuse of his daughter and another under-aged girl.

“Sexual predators, particularly those who prey on our nation’s children, will continue to be a top priority in our immigration enforcement efforts,” said Garcia. “We are a nation of opportunity but also of laws. These convicted criminals have forfeited their chance at opportunity by violating our laws. ICE plans to remove them from the United States as quickly as possible.”

“New York has no tolerance for those who endanger our citizens,” said New York City Probation Commissioner Martin F. Horn. “We appreciate the work of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security in supporting our efforts to keep New York the safest big city in the United States.”

Those arrested today are foreign-born sex offenders who have been convicted of charges that include rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, and endangering the welfare of a child. The youngest victim was nine-years old. Based upon their prior convictions, these individuals are eligible for removal from the United States.

The targets are from seventeen different countries including: Antigua, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Russia, St. Kitts, Togo, Trinidad, and Tobago. All predators were male.

ICE’s New York Office of Detention and Removal participated in the processing transfer and detention of the predators.

Since Operation Predator was launched on July 9, 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 4,500 child predators nationwide, including 275 in New York before today’s enforcement action. The targets of Operation Predator include U.S. citizens suspected of sex crimes against children as well as non-citizen sex offenders whose crimes make them subject to removal from the United States.

Additional information about Operation Predator is available on the Web at www.ice.gov.

ICE encourages the reporting of suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.