News and reports from the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Phoenix is implementing a year-long effort to provide essential public safety measures in and around the area for Super Bowl LVII. As a qualifying National Special Security Event, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas designated HSI Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown as the lead federal coordinator.

Special agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Charleston teamed up with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to conduct a day-long human trafficking training workshop Jan. 31 at the University of Charleston.

Congressmen Mike Gallagher (R-WI), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), also a member of the committee, said in a joint statement that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) balloon flying over the U.S. represents a serious threat that must not be ignored. The Defense Department confirmed on Thursday that it was monitoring the surveillance balloon, but would not shoot it down, and said this balloon is not the first to have been spotted in U.S. airspace. Some have expressed concern that the balloon could be spying on sensitive intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) sites in Montana.

A Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk investigation led to a guilty plea from a Midlothian, Virginia man Jan. 31 for conspiring to defraud and commit offenses against the United States, including human trafficking of individuals from Central America; benefiting from forced labor; money laundering; and harboring undocumented non-citizens.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC), the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit (IHRU) and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) joined national and international law enforcement partners and non-governmental organizations today in recognizing the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) San Antonio, with assistance from ERO Honduras and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement task force, removed an unlawfully present foreign fugitive wanted in Honduras for homicide on Jan. 27.

A judge sentenced Robert Ficzner, 27, of Fishers, Indiana to 13 years in federal prison for distributing child sexual abuse material following a joint investigation between Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and other agencies.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) New York City removed Victor Hugo Chimbo-Ilbay, a citizen of Ecuador with a final order of removal, to Ecuador on Feb. 2.

Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Tallahassee’s Criminal Alien Program team officers arrested a citizen of the Dominican Republic in Tallahassee after he served a five-year sentence for lewd and lascivious battery in Osceola County.

A federal judge sentenced a high-level Guatemalan cartel boss to 210 months in federal prison on Jan. 27.

Deportation officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested Myrat Mahadev, a 35-year-old citizen of Turkmenistan, in Vermont on Jan. 30. Muhadov, a noncitizen fugitive, had an active arrest warrant in Turkmenistan for charges related to financial crimes.

Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City Taekuk Cho and United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced Brandon Goodsell, 36, of Kearney to 210 months’ imprisonment on Feb. 1.

A federal judge in Alpine sentenced a Valentine man on Jan. 24 to 20 years in prison and 15 years of supervised release for distributing child sexual abuse material.

Starting February 10, 2023, self-petitioning abused spouses, children, and parents must file Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, and Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, at the Nebraska Service Center instead of the Vermont Service Center.

Effective immediately, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has updated guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify that both asylees and refugees must have been physically present in the United States for one year when we adjudicate their Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, rather than at the time they file their adjustment of status application.