News Releases

ICE's top 5 news stories for the Week Ending July 23, 2010

July 20, 2010 - New York: $19 million settlement in case of painting stolen by Nazis
Leopold Museum's 'Portrait of Wally' was seized in 1999 from N.Y. art exhibit

John Morton, Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that the United States has entered into a settlement agreement with the Leopold Museum Privat-Stiftung and Lea Bondi Jaray's estate to resolve the civil forfeiture action against "Portrait of Wally," an oil painting by Egon Schiele that a Nazi stole from a Jewish woman in 1939. Accoding to the terms of the settlement agreement, the Leopold Museum will pay Bondi's estate $19 million in exchange for the painting. Full Story

July 21, 2010 - Washington: DHS finalizes I-9 employment form rule streamlining efforts to ensure a legal workforce nationwide

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today finalized a regulation that provides greater flexibility for employers to electronically sign and store I-9 forms, which are used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to verify employment eligibility-eliminating the need for paper filing and streamlining efforts to ensure a legal workforce nationwide. Full Story

July 19, 2010 - Dallas: 105 arrested in Dallas-Fort Worth area during ICE-led anti-gang operation

Assisted by local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) National Gang Unit arrested 105 men and women during a five-day operation targeting foreign-born gang members and their associates throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Full Story

July 21, 2010 -  Fresno: High school football coach arrested on federal child pornography charges
Titles of seized explicit videos included "Sex with Teacher" and "Sex in the Classroom"

The coach of the Hanford High School freshman football team was arrested Wednesday on a federal criminal complaint charging him with possessing and receiving child pornography as a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Kings County District Attorney's Office.  Full Story

July 20, 2010 - Vicksburg: Warren County first in Mississippi to benefit from ICE strategy to enhance the identification, removal of criminal aliens
Uses biometrics to prioritize immigration enforcement actions against convicted criminal aliens

On Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using a new biometric information sharing capability in Warren County that helps federal immigration officials identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime. This capability is part of Secure Communities - ICE's comprehensive strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of criminal aliens from the United States.  Full Story