U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Protecting national security by enforcing our nation's customs and immigration laws
Report suspicious activity 1-866-DHS-2-ICE
Quick Links
News
December 10, 2008
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS INVESTIGATIONS
"The United States has always been a place of refuge and freedom from oppression for millions. We must never deny safe haven to those with a genuine and legitimate fear of persecution. But we must also ensure that those who come here seeking freedom and the rule of law do not have to fear that their persecutor may become their neighbor."
Statement of Ms. Julie L. Myers, Former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, following the successful conviction of Charles Emmanuel, a.k.a. ‘Chuckie’ Taylor by a jury in Miami, Florida on October 30, 2008 for Torture and Conspiracy to Commit Torture.
Many human rights violators, alleged to have committed crimes ranging from religious persecution to genocide, have sought refuge in the United States in an effort to evade prosecution and punishment for the crimes they have committed in their home countries. These human rights violators are not admissible as refugees into the United States under the provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actively seeks to identify and remove these individuals in order to deny them safe haven in the United States. Even beyond these statutory issues, the presence of such violators in the United States tarnishes the long-held commitment of our nation to provide safety and sanctuary for the tens of thousands of victims of war crimes, religious or ethnic persecution, torture and other human rights abuses who seek refuge here on a yearly basis.
To identify and remove war crimes suspects and human rights violators from the United States, ICE maintains two complementary units that target foreign human rights violators:
The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Unit (HRVWCU), which has national oversight over investigations of individuals alleged to have committed crimes such as genocide, extra-judicial killings, torture, suppression of religious freedom and other forms of persecution. The unit also seeks to prevent the admission of known or suspected human rights abuse suspects into the United States in the first place.
The Human Rights Law Division (HRLD), which provides legal and litigation support to the effort to remove human rights violators.
Because these offenders seek to blend into our society (often among those whom they persecuted), there is no precise method whereby their numbers can be accurately estimated. Regardless, these cases represent an investigative priority for ICE, partly due to the gravity of their crimes abroad. As of September 2008, ICE has nearly 150 active investigations and is pursuing over 1,000 leads and removal cases involving suspects from approximately 89 different countries. These cases are predominantly focused on Central and South America, Haiti, the Balkans, China, and Africa, and represent cases in various stages of investigation, prosecution, or removal proceedings.
ICE Combined Authorities
In pursuing foreign war crimes or human rights abuse suspects, ICE is uniquely situated to employ its combined authorities under both U.S. Criminal Law and U.S. Immigration Law. Under existing federal criminal statutes, where the United States can exercise jurisdiction over the actual foreign offenses (such as torture, genocide or using child soldiers), we work with our partners in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to seek such charges. Where we cannot exercise such jurisdiction, we pursue criminal charges related to false statements and material misrepresentations made by these offenders on refugee, visa, resident or citizenship applications made by these offenders. Where substantial monetary assets based on an offender’s human rights abuses or war crimes are identified in our jurisdiction, ICE seeks to use its authorities to undertake the seizure of such assets. In addition to these wide-ranging criminal remedies, ICE uses its authority under U.S. immigration law in order to undertake the arrest, detention, and ultimate removal or deportation of these individuals to their respective home jurisdiction, so that they may face justice before their victims.
ICE Partnerships
As the primary investigatory agency for these offenses within the United States, ICE helps direct the broader United States government-wide effort to identify, prosecute and remove these individuals from our shores. Our key partners include the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, as well as the United States Attorney’s Offices nationwide; the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. ICE has a global footprint on these issues as well. Through our ICE Attaché Offices in over 39 countries, we maintain partnerships with a variety of foreign law enforcement organizations or judicial bodies who share our goals with respect to identifying and prosecuting serious human rights abusers. Finally, ICE maintains close contacts with a number of international or regional organizations who are active in this same effort, to include INTERPOL, the International Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Protecting the integrity of our immigration laws
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, aliens who “…ordered, incited, assisted or otherwise participated in” persecution are barred from gaining admission into the United States as a refugee, from obtaining asylum status or from obtaining Temporary Protected Status. These aliens are, however, potentially eligible to enter the United States on other grounds, and to adjust their status to lawful permanent residence or even obtain citizenship. As part of the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA), Congress partially remedied this problem. Section 5501 of the IRTPA amended the INA to include participation in torture or extrajudicial killings as grounds of inadmissibility and deportability. Further, Congress made this provision of the INA retroactive, so that human rights violators who had previously been granted legal status in the United States could now face having that status revoked in immigration court. ICE quickly moved to implement this change in law, using it as the grounds to successfully deport a former Ethiopian army officer who was directly involved in torturing suspected political opponents under the repressive Mengistu Regime. Most recently, under the Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008, Congress again amended Section 212 (a) (3) of the INA to add either the recruitment or use of child soldiers as an additional ground of inadmissibility or deportability.
Domestic success stories
Within the last six months alone, ICE has undertaken the successful apprehension and/or conviction of a several significant human rights abusers or war crimes suspects found in the U.S. In September 2008, ICE, in concert with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, Massachusetts, obtained criminal convictions against Carlos de Graca Lopes, a national of Cape Verde. Lopes was formerly a prison director in Cape Verde, but was dismissed from that position in 2006 after allegations surfaced that he abused and tortured prisoners under his charge. While under post-arrest investigation by Cape Verdean judicial authorities, Lopes obtained a non-immigrant visa by concealing his arrest and misrepresenting other facts to U.S. consular authorities. After his indictment in Cape Verde for multiple criminal acts (including torture), he was apprehended in Brockton, MA, and placed in removal proceedings. In sworn testimony before an Immigration Judge, Lopes committed perjury. Ultimately, Lopes was criminally charged and subsequently pleaded guilty to thirteen counts of visa fraud, false statements and perjury.
Also in September 2008, working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ICE obtained criminal convictions for visa fraud against Nedjo Ikonic, the former commander of a Bosnian Serb special police unit that is implicated in a number of extrajudicial killings that took place in and around Srebrenica, Bosnia in July 1995. Following the capture of the United Nations designated safe-area of Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb military and police forces under the command of General Ratko Mladic, over 5000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered in a series of mass-executions. On the eve of trial, Ikonic pled guilty to two counts of visa fraud stemming from his failure to disclose on his refugee application his service with the special police service at Srebrenica in July 1995.
In October 2008, Charles Emmanuel, a.k.a. ‘Chuckie’ Taylor, was found guilty in a Federal District Court in Miami, Florida on six counts of committing acts of torture and conspiracy to commit torture. These convictions represent the first successful application of the Federal Criminal Torture Statute (18 USC 2340a) since it was enacted into law in 1994. Charles Emmanuel, the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, commanded the notorious Liberian Anti-Terrorism Unit that suppressed opposition to his father’s regime through brutal acts of torture and murder. This ICE-led investigation was groundbreaking in the scope of both the international and inter-governmental agency coordination needed to ensure a successful indictment and prosecution—ultimately leading to testimony by witnesses describing Emmanuel's involvement in at least three killings and acts of torture using electric shocks, lit cigarettes, molten plastic, hot irons, stabbings with bayonets and even biting ants shoveled onto people's bodies.
Most recently, in November 2008, two former members of the Philippines National Police were arrested by ICE agents in Long Island, NY and Ft. Lauderdale, FL on extradition warrants issued by U.S. District Courts. Glane Dumlao and Cezar Mancao were high-ranking officials in the Philippines National Police force and were allegedly involved in politically motivated extra-judicial killings in 2000. They subsequently fled Manila once their involvement was identified and linked to senior police and governmental officials. Both are now being extradited back to the Republic of the Philippines to stand trial for these murders.
Denying entry to foreign human rights abusers
ICE also works to prevent known human rights abusers from gaining entry into the United States. Under the agency’s Human Rights Target Tracking Initiative, ICE Special Agents and Intelligence Officers work with their national and international counterparts in a coordinated effort to identify serious foreign human rights abusers and take the necessary steps to prevent them from coming to our shores in an effort to evade justice abroad. A notable success was the interdiction of Isaac Kamali, who is listed in the top one-third of Rwanda’s ninety-three major genocide suspects. Kamali, who was traveling on a French passport, was identified and prevented from entering the U.S. at the Philadelphia International Airport. Upon being returned to Paris, he was taken into custody by French judicial authorities pending extradition to Rwanda.
Supporting US efforts to promote the rule of law
Finally, ICE plays a key role in effecting justice for human rights abusers in their home jurisdictions. Two separate proceedings before the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina involve suspects who were previously located and arrested by ICE in the United States and who were returned to face trial for their involvement in war crimes. Both cases (Prosecutor v. Milorad Trbic and the Prosecutor v. Bozic, et al) involve allegations of direct participation in murders following the capture of Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb military forces. Milorad Trbic was the Deputy Chief of Security of the Zvornik Infantry Brigade in July 1995—and was previously arrested by ICE in High Point, North Carolina. Zdravko Bozic and Mladen Blagojevic were military police officers in the Bratunac Infantry Brigade in July 1995—and were arrested by ICE in Phoenix, Arizona. In November 2008, Blagojevic was convicted by the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and sentenced to seven years for his participating in ‘crimes against humanity’ related the July 1995 Srebrenica killings.
Supporting Argentina’s ongoing efforts to account for criminal acts during their so-called ‘Dirty War,’ ICE undertook the arrest, conviction and removal of Ernesto Barreiro, a former major in the Argentine army who is accused of being the former chief interrogator of the infamous La Perla detention center. At the time of his arrest by ICE, Barreiro was residing in Northern Virginia. He was convicted of visa fraud for failing to disclose his prior arrest for human rights abuses in Argentina. He was successfully removed from the United States in October 2007, and is in the custody of judicial authorities investigating the deaths and disappearances that occurred during his tenure at La Perla.
Similarly, ICE supports Peruvian judicial authorities seeking justice and accountability for past human rights abuses associated with Peru’s military campaign against the violent Shining Path anti-government insurgency. Several former Peruvian army officers who were sought for their role in directing or participating in the August 1985 massacre of 69 civilians in the village of Accomarca were located in the United States and were subsequently apprehended by ICE in a coordinated enforcement operation. On 23 March 2007, Juan Manuel Rivera-Rondon was arrested in Gaithersburg, Maryland. One week later, Telmo Ricardo Hurtado-Hurtado was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida. In August 2008, Rivera-Rondon was successfully removed from the United States and turned over to Peruvian authorities in Lima by ICE deportation officers. Hurtado-Hurtado remains in Federal custody pending his extradition to Peru.
No ‘safe haven’ as our continuing vision
The ultimate goal of ICE is to ensure that foreign human rights abusers and war crimes suspects never regard the shores of the United States as a ‘safe haven’ where they can enjoy impunity from the crimes they committed elsewhere. Across the wide spectrum of agency offices and programs, special agents, lawyers, intelligence officers, historians and analysts combine their hard-won expertise in this field to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of these complex investigations. Our agency efforts are further leveraged through the continuing close cooperation we maintain with our governmental, national and international partners; and we actively promote outreach activities among a wide variety of non-governmental organizations related to international human rights as well. Simply put, ICE remains committed to the common goal of civilized humanity: that war criminals and human rights abusers must never expect that their acts will to go unnoticed or that their crimes will go unpunished—regardless of how far in the past they occurred, or how far away the perpetrators are hiding.
“Human rights violators represent the worst of humanity. ICE is committed to dedicating the resources necessary to investigate, present for prosecution, and remove from the U.S. those individuals who have participated in these atrocities in order to ensure that the United States does not become a safe haven for human rights violators.”
Prepared Statement of Ms. Marcy M. Forman, Director, ICE Office of Investigations, before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, November 14, 2007.
