June 25, 2007

Department of Homeland Security law enforcement team prevents Rwandan genocide suspect from entering the U.S.

PHILADELPHIA - A 58-year-old alleged Rwandan genocide suspect, Isaac Kamali, was denied entry into the United States and returned to France as a result of a coordinated international law enforcement effort.

Kamali was detained at the Philadelphia International Airport last week by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers based on an Interpol Notice. The notice was issued as a result of a Rwandan arrest warrant against Kamali for allegedly engaging in genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1994 massacre that killed roughly 800,000 people in Rwanda.

The international law enforcement effort, led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Interpol, resulted in Kamali's arrest by French authorities upon his return to Paris. Kamali was traveling from France to the United States on a valid French passport and is a naturalized French citizen. Participants in this effort include ICE's Human Rights Violators and Public Safety Unit, Office of International Affairs, and Human Rights Law Division, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Interpol, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Those who persecute others have no right to seek protection in the United States," said Assistant Secretary Julie Myers. "We will continue to work closely with our domestic and international partners to relentlessly pursue such criminals and ensure they are brought to justice. We will not allow our nation to be a safe haven for human rights abusers."

Identifying and removing persecutors and human rights violators from the United States is one of ICE's top enforcement programs. To achieve this goal, ICE created the Human Rights Violators Unit, with a specific mandate to deny safe haven to human rights violators by bringing to bear a full range of investigative techniques and legal authorities to identify, locate, investigate and remove them from the United States. To date, ICE has initiated over 800 human rights related investigations or removal cases from over 85 countries.

ICE encourages the public to come forward with any information they may have regarding human rights abusers living in the United States. Anonymous tips may be reported at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423).

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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