Targeting Predators

The newspaper articles appear with heartbreaking regularity in every community across the country—stories about men and women committing sexual crimes against children. By the time we read about it the damage is already done, even though the perpetrator may be behind bars.

However, law enforcement agencies at every level have taken an increasingly aggressive stance against these crimes, and we're seeing real results.

We saw an example of those results earlier this week in California, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with our partners at the FBI's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team and the U.S. Attorney's Office for Los Angeles, announced that a major investigation led to the arrest of seven men on charges of possessing and/or distributing images depicting the sexual abuse of children. The arrests were part of a larger investigation that has led to criminal charges against a total of 55 defendants.

In this case, the suspects were accessing peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks over the Internet to trade graphic images and videos of children being victimized. Thanks to coordinated efforts using sophisticated software that tracks the computers where these images are being stored, investigators were able to identify and target the predators.

The suspects may have thought the use of P2P technology would allow them to make their exchanges undetected. However, that is not the case—today's announcement shows that law enforcement is paying close attention to those who exploit and abuse children, and that the Internet is not an anonymous playground where they can commit their crimes in secret.

Among the defendants:

• Gary Samuel Cochran, a 50-year-old man previously convicted of child molestation and possession of obscene materials depicting minors engaged in sex acts. Earlier this year, investigators found evidence that Cochran was not only sharing child pornography, but that some of the images were pictures he had taken of a young girl;


• Eric David Lacey, a 48-year-old man who was living above a child day care facility in Hollywood, California, while being sought in a North Dakota child pornography case featured on "America’s Most Wanted";


• Evan Craig Stephens, 36, a registered sex offender with a previous conviction for child molestation; and


• George Tyler Farmer, 39, who was previously convicted of molesting a 6-year-old girl.

Targeting sexual predators who exploit children has been an important part of the ICE mission for more than five years. ICE launched Operation Predator in 2003 as a nationwide initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator's inception, ICE agents have made more than 11,000 arrests under the program.

This case ensures that dozens of will face justice for their crimes, and it is a positive step toward ensuring the safety of children. Just as importantly, these arrests send a clear message to sexual predators that they will be identified, they will be apprehended and they will face consequences.

Julie L. Myers,
Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Domestic Off-shoring

To the casual observer, the El Pollo Rico restaurant in Wheaton, Md., may have seemed like any successful restaurant found in communities around the nation-—a popular hang out where locals gathered to enjoy good food and friendly company.

But as it happens, El Pollo Rico’s success was anything but deserved. While it may have enjoyed an edge over local competitors, El Pollo Rico and its owners were at the center of a multi-million dollar criminal conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States. For El Pollo Rico, the smuggling, employing, and housing of illegal aliens was likely much more profitable than paying lawful wages to American workers.

This week, the restaurant's owners, Franciso C. Solano and his wife, Ines Hoyos-Solano, pleaded guilty to federal charges and agreed to forfeit $8.7 million in illicit proceeds they had realized from the scheme over the years. Mr. Solano pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor aliens, conspiracy to commit money laundering and structuring bank transactions to evade reporting requirements in connection with the operation of the restaurant. His wife also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The Solanos employed an elaborate and corrupt business model to evade and circumvent federal immigration laws in a way that allowed them to gain an unfair advantage in the marketplace. But what is even more disturbing is that these individuals are not alone. Indeed many corrupt businesses today engage in the illicit practice that we call "domestic off-shoring."

The American public has heard numerous accounts of jobs being outsourced to workers offshore who work for less money than do American workers. Policymakers have long debated the supposed merits and alleged drawbacks of this practice. But little attention has been paid to the use of undocumented aliens as part of a domestic off-shoring scheme. This type of outsourcing has no positive benefit to American workers or respectable businesses.

Companies that build their workforce using illegal aliens here in the United States take jobs away from law abiding American citizens and residents who are authorized to work. By cutting corners to cut costs, they unfairly acquire market share to the detriment of responsible businesses playing by the rules. The shadiest of these establishments often exploit and abuse their workers because of their illegal status, disregarding worker safety and wage laws simply because they know the workers, fearing arrest and deportation, won't report them to regulators.

The good news is that ICE's comprehensive approach to worksite enforcement is helping turn the tables on domestic off-shoring. Not only are ICE’s efforts against unscrupulous employers working to level the playing field between them and their competitors, but by also targeting the identity thieves and document vendors, ICE is able to protect those American workers whose identities have been used for these nefarious purposes.

Julie L. Myers
Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Protecting Ideas

Earlier today we officially opened the new home of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center in Arlington, Va.

We had the honor of being joined at the launch event by Secretary Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Gutierrez. They each addressed the important role this new facility will play in safeguarding intellectual property rights (IPR). The president and CEO of Underwriters Laboratories, Keith Williams, also shared his perspective on the significance of this new facility to the private sector.

The opening of this facility represents a major step forward in the United States’ effort to safeguard intellectual property rights and to target criminals who violate those rights. It gives us the tools we need to build the productive partnerships with both the private sector and with governments and law enforcement agencies here at home and abroad.

The violation of IPR is a serious and growing threat to America’s national and economic security. The United States is home to some of the world’s most innovative and creative industries – industries that are consistently leading the way in developing new and better products to meet the demands of consumers around the world.

Whether it’s life-saving medicines and vaccines, state of the art technologies, products for the office or the home, or the creative output of American movie and recording studios, the output of American ingenuity is increasingly the target of larger, more sophisticated, and more complex counterfeiting and piracy schemes.

The cost to our economy of intellectual property theft is estimated to reach $250 billion a year, robbing as many as 750,000 jobs from American workers. Worldwide, it is estimated that as much as 8 percent of all the goods and merchandise sold is counterfeit.

This illegal activity not only poses an economic threat, it also threatens the health and safety of the American people. From tainted toothpaste to adulterated dog food, we’ve seen how substandard or tainted products that illegally carry the name of trusted products put consumers at risk.

The challenge we face in turning back the tide is enormous – and this new facility is designed to meet that challenge. The people staffing this facility are committed to building partnerships among all those who share the long-range goal of putting counterfeiters and pirates out of business.

We are establishing what I think of as “mission control” for IPR protection, a place designed to foster information sharing, partnership building, and cooperative effort in pursuit of a common goal.

Using the highly successful task force model, our new facility will promote close cooperation and coordination among federal agencies and among field offices, clarifying areas of responsibility and lines of authority, eliminating duplication of effort, and promoting best practices.

This facility will also give our law enforcement counterparts in state and local governments and internationally a single point of contact for IPR investigations and enforcement. It will serve the same purpose for the private sector, helping us build truly productive partnerships.

As the Center’s lead federal agency, ICE is excited about this new facility’s ability to improve and expand the federal government’s effort to protect the intellectual property rights of American business and industry and, by doing so, protect the health and safety of the American people and the strength of the American economy.

This Center holds great promise and I am convinced it will meet and likely exceed our expectations for it. As impressive as this new facility is, however, its true potential is in its people. We are fortunate that the people who are staffing the Center are dedicated, capable professionals who see their job as a mission – a mission they will use all of their skill, ability, experience, and expertise to fulfill.

I look forward, in the months ahead, to sharing with the readers of this journal some of the many successes I know this new facility will help make possible.

Julie L. Myers
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ICE and INTERPOL Cooperation Nabs Child Predator

One of the most important lessons for law enforcement in the 21st century is that cooperation in investigations is absolutely essential. As criminals and terrorists become more mobile, more sophisticated and more technologically savvy, it’s critical that law enforcement agencies across the board work together to get the job done.

That spirit of cooperation was on display in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) most recent success yesterday when we arrested a suspect in an international child predator investigation in New Jersey. The arrest stemmed from an alert circulated earlier this week by INTERPOL, the international law enforcement organization that works closely with ICE agents in fighting transnational criminal activity.

It was a tough case: The suspect’s name, nationality and location were a mystery. But his face was known from a series of photographs depicting the sexual abuse of three boys between the ages of six and 10 years old. The pictures, believed to have been taken in Southeast Asia, were originally discovered by police in Norway two years ago. Since then, the photographs have been circulated widely to law enforcement agencies around the world.

INTERPOL, working with ICE investigators, distributed a new alert on the suspect on May 6. Traffic to the INTERPOL Web site exploded, with more than a quarter million hits, as the public and law enforcement officials joined in to help offer information that might identify the suspect. Thanks to these Internet tips, by the morning of May 8, ICE agents arrested 59-year-old Wayne Nelson Corliss of Union City, N.J., who at this time is believed to be the man in the photographs.

This alleged predator is now in custody and will face charges for the exploitation of vulnerable children. It could not have happened without the coordination and cooperation of law enforcement investigators working around the world to keep children safe.

Julie L. Myers

Assistant Secretary

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

An Eye Opening Story

Every day at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), we are fighting a fight you rarely hear about in the media - the battle against human trafficking. ICE is taking an aggressive approach to dismantle the global infrastructure of people, money and materials that supports this heinous crime. I want to take this opportunity to share with you a story about a recent ICE human trafficking investigation.

Picture this: May 12, 2007. A rainy midnight in an affluent Long Island neighborhood where the average home cost around $1.5 million. A woman in her fifties – I’ll call her “Jane” – wearing ripped sweat pants and rags she’d sewn together into a shirt wandered the neighborhood looking for help. At first, Jane thought she’d go to a nearby home, but ended up abandoning that plan and even hid in the bushes every time a car passed, having never been out of the house before and unsure of whom she could trust.

Miraculously, Jane found her way to small shopping center with a donut shop - one of the only businesses open at that very early hour - more than a mile away. Again, fearful, she did not go in. But an alert employee spotted Jane and, despite the fact that he did not speak her Indonesian language, convinced her to come inside.

He and his manager sheltered and fed Jane until the manager’s mother, a nurse, arrived. Jane motioned and gestured that she’d been abused. And the nurse observed severe injuries behind her ears – as if someone had tried to cut them off – and dozens of scars and other marks covering her arms. Ultimately, the three called local police for help.

Nassau County Police Department officers arrived, as did a specially trained detective who is part of the local Human Trafficking Task Force. Jane was taken to the hospital and local officers contacted ICE.

The five-month ICE investigation that followed culminated on December 17 when a wealthy Long Island couple was convicted by jury trial on a twelve count federal indictment that included forced labor, peonage, document servitude, harboring aliens and conspiracy for holding Jane and another Indonesian woman captive. The couple is set to be sentenced on March 28, 2008, and each faces up to 40 years for their roles in this scheme.

These women were rescued, and the perpetrators brought to justice, because each of the individuals involved took action. Like many things in law enforcement, the badge-carriers can’t always do the job alone.

For years, a number of non-governmental organizations have assisted us in our cause – both through public outreach and by providing victim services. And now we’re augmenting their efforts by reaching out directly to the public with a new ICE Public Service Announcement. Our message is simple: A human trafficking victim can be anyone. If you see them, report it to ICE at 1-866-347-2423.

The sad reality is that trafficking victims remain anonymous as long as they are ignored. They hide in plain sight. We all must work together to shine a light on this problem and get the victims to the help they deserve.

Julie L. Myers
Assistant Secretary
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

State of Immigration

This past August, in the wake of Congress’ failure to pass comprehensive reform, the Administration launched a series of major initiatives that are designed to secure our homeland by building on the progress already made against illegal immigration.

Yesterday, I delivered the first of a series of updates on how we are doing on this critical matter.

In previous journal entries, I detailed our work along our Southern Border, from building pedestrian and vehicle fencing to deploying thousands of new Border Patrol agents, along with National Guard members.

As we’ve put more fencing and boots on the ground, we’ve witnessed a 20% decline in cross-border apprehensions from the previous year, indicating that fewer people are trying to come here illegally. Financial remittances to Mexico have also declined, and we’re seeing fewer people in traditional border staging areas.

I want to talk to you now about similar progress we’ve made in interior enforcement. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested over 3,500 gang members and their associates this past fiscal year. ICE also added 23 fugitive operations teams, and reduced its fugitive case backlog by more than 35,000 individuals.

ICE has also cracked down on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. In fiscal year 2007, ICE made 863 criminal arrests, 4,077 administrative arrests, and obtained more than $30 million in criminal fines, restitutions and civil judgments as a result of worksite enforcement efforts.

We’ve made remarkable progress through stepped-up enforcement, but an enforcement-only approach does not fully address the illegal immigration problem. That’s why we’re giving employers better tools to verify their workforce and comply with the law. More than 24,000 companies were enrolled in E-Verify (our web-based system that allows employers to check if a worker is authorized to work in this country) this past fiscal year, and today, that number is 30,000.

In addition to providing tools for employers, we must also acknowledge that many of our economic needs are met by foreign workers. We must have effective legal channels for employers to hire temporary workers when American workers are unavailable, especially in the agriculture industry. That’s why we’re working with the Department of Labor to strengthen and streamline the H-2A Agricultural Seasonal Worker Program.

Some critics suggest that the federal government lacks the will to enforce the law. The record shows that criticism is untrue. But what is true is that we’ve had to fight lawsuits and special interests every step of the way, because some business and advocacy groups favor a silent amnesty and the status quo over enforcing our laws. My commitment is that we will not back down.

Thanks for reading.

Michael Chertoff