News and reports from the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers assigned to the World Trade Bridge seized cocaine that totaled over $1,900,000 in street value.

A stranded hiker was rescued Friday, by an aircrew from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) Tucson Air Branch launched a UH-60 aircrew to the Huachuca Mountains south of Sierra Vista after being requested by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.

US Border Patrol and the Puerto Rico Police Joint Forced for Rapid Action (FURA, in Spanish) apprehended Monday morning 15 non-citizens from Colombia, Haiti and the Dominican Republic after they disembarked from a makeshift wooden vessel near Rincon.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers intercepted the largest seizure in the history of the port with almost $1 million worth of fentanyl and methamphetamine at the Andrade Port of Entry.

A Houston man pleaded guilty to several sex trafficking crimes and possession of child pornography Feb. 27 following a Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Houston, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the Houston Police Department.

A Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore investigation resulted in life imprisonment for two members of the notorious MS-13 street gang for their part in a racketeering, murder and extortion conspiracies.

A joint investigation involving Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk, the ATF, the Virginia State Police and the Isle of Wight Sheriff’s Office led to an 81-month prison sentence for Ronald Devon Matthews, 36, of Isle of Wight, Virginia.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston’s Fugitive Operations Team arrested a Brazilian national on Feb. 21 in Malden.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston, with assistance from ERO Tegucigalpa and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force, removed Rufino Garza Monroy, a twice-deported foreign fugitive from the United States on Feb. 24.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Newark arrested a Brazilian fugitive wanted in Brazil for drug trafficking in Newark on Feb. 15.

Officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Denver removed a noncitizen fugitive wanted in Mexico Feb. 21.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) joined the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and other Joint Task Force Vulcan partners in announcing the arrest and subsequent indictment charging three of MS-13’s highest ranking leaders on Feb. 23.

Officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) El Paso removed an unlawfully present noncitizen wanted for murder and drug trafficking in his home country of Ecuador on Feb. 16.

Recording artist Robert Sylvester Kelly, also known as R. Kelly, was sentenced by United States District Judge Harry D. Leinenweber to 20 years in federal prison, 19 of them concurrent with the 30-year sentence previously imposed in the Eastern District of New York Feb. 23.

Last week, a federal jury found a local area man guilty of conspiracy to commit hostage taking, conspiracy to transport illegal aliens for profit, and two counts of transportation of an illegal alien for profit, following a probe by Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Arizona with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Marana Police Department.