News and reports from the Department of Homeland Security.

A South Texas woman was sentenced Jan. 10 to eight years in federal prison for her role in a multi-state cocaine trafficking conspiracy following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations Houston’s Victoria office, with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Starr County District Attorney’s Office; Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office; and Texas Office of the Attorney General.

Officers with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Boston arrested Deann Pires de Mello, a Brazilian citizen wanted for aggravated homicide in Brazil near Framingham, Jan. 9.

A gang leader from the Texas Chicano Brotherhood was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Jan. 10 for his role in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Victoria, with assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Starr County District Attorney’s Office; Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office; and Texas Office of the Attorney General.

A South Texas resident pleaded guilty Jan. 10 to drug trafficking-related charges after an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Corpus Christi and U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed he attempted to smuggle more than $1.1 million in cocaine through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.

Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Los Angeles field office arrested Edwing Edgardo Ramos-Alvarado, 39, a citizen of El Salvador subject to an arrest warrant issued in his home country for crimes of illicit association with the known criminal gang MS-13, Jan. 3.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Atlanta, ERO Mexico, and the Security Alliance for Fugitive Enforcement removed an unlawfully present foreign fugitive wanted for homicide in his home country of Mexico.

An investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk and the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) landed a Virginia attorney in federal prison for more than four years for tax fraud. Nosuk Kim, 61, of Newport News, was sentenced to 52 months in prison Jan. 5 and ordered to pay a $200,000 fine for evading the assessment of her 2015- and 2016-income tax returns.

A Texas man was sentenced to prison for receipt and distribution of child pornography following an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City Taekuk Cho and United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Martin Alonzo Castro, 42, of Fremont was sentenced Jan. 6 in federal court in Omaha for conspiracy to produce and transfer fraudulent documents following an HSI and joint law enforcement investigation.

Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Kansas City Taekuk Cho and United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Gregory Lukassen, 50, of Omaha, was sentenced in federal court in Omaha for distribution and receipt of child pornography, Jan. 5, following joint HSI investigation.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that noncitizen workers who are victims of, or witnesses to, the violation of labor rights, can now access a streamlined and expedite deferred action request process.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is implementing the final phase of the premium processing expansion for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas today announced the extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalia for an additional 18 months, from March 18, 2023, through September 17, 2024

Release: NORFOLK, Va. Transportation Security Administration officers at Norfolk International Airport stopped a Wisconsin woman from carrying her handgun onto a flight on Tuesday, Jan. 17. The 9mm handgun was loaded with eight bullets. It marked the first gun caught at the airports checkpoints so far this year and came on the heels of a record-setting 27 guns caught at the airport last year.

Release: ATLANTA - Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Georgia airports discovered a total of 482 firearms in travelers carry-on luggage in 2022, with Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) leading the country with 448 found. Each of the firearms was discovered by TSA officers during the routine screening of carry-on property at airport security checkpoints.