*EPF509 01/30/2004
Text: Federal Campaign Against Child Predators Gaining Ground
(Arrests of resident alien predators announced, deportations anticipated) (1160)

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to take overdue action on expelling resident aliens who have long been subject to deportation as a result of their convictions in crimes against children. ICE announced in a January 29 press release that almost 100 convicted child predators have been arrested, and are set for removal from the United States as part of Operation Predator.

A campaign first announced in July, Operation Predator strives to better protect children from pedophiles, Internet predators, human traffickers and child sex traffickers.

In a Washington File interview, an ICE spokesperson said many of the subjects should have been deported years ago after serving prison terms on child sexual abuse charges. U.S. immigration law specifies that convictions on such crimes are grounds for deportation of permanent lawful residents. Through administrative oversights and lack of enforcement capability, those deportations have not occurred until now, the spokesperson said.

ICE announced another milestone in the progress of Operation Predator. ICE and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have agreed to greater cooperation in their mutual efforts to protect children.

Following is the text of the press release:

(begin text)

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement

January 29, 2004

HOMELAND SECURITY ANNOUNCES NEW MILESTONE IN ITS GLOBAL EFFORT TO COMBAT CHILD SEX PREDATORS
Measures Include Publicity Campaign and Pact with National Child Protection Group

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today announced new milestones in Operation Predator, the Department's ongoing campaign to combat child sexual predators worldwide. The advances include the signing of an agreement with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Today's announcement follows a series of ICE enforcement actions over the last three weeks in the Los Angeles area that have resulted in the arrest of 82 convicted child sex offenders.

These latest developments represent important milestones for Operation Predator, an ongoing Homeland Security initiative to safeguard children worldwide from pedophiles, Internet predators, human traffickers, child sex tourists, and other predatory criminals. Since Secretary Ridge launched the Operation last July, ICE agents have made more than 1,700 arrests nationwide, including more than 450 in the Los Angeles area.

At a ceremony this morning, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia and NCMEC President Ernie Allen signed a memorandum of understanding expanding the ongoing cooperative efforts between the two organizations. As part of that agreement, NCMEC will furnish ICE with evidence and leads it receives on child pornography and suspected child sex violators through its national CyberTipline [1-800-843-5678 or cybertipline.com]. In addition, ICE has agreed to provide NCMEC with access to child pornography images and identifying information contained in ICE's data systems to assist NCMEC with its efforts to locate missing and exploited children.

The agreement signed today also calls for NCMEC to alert ICE's Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) when the organization receives an "Amber Alert" about the kidnapping, endangerment, or abduction of children that might involve the aviation domain. This action complements the new Code Adam Alert Program that requires all federal facilities to have a plan to quickly locate missing children. ICE's Federal Protective Service is helping develop and implement that plan.

The agreement marks an official collaboration between Homeland Security and NCMEC to combat child predators. The partnership will take place at two levels:

1.The sharing of information to help track down child predators and possibly save victims.

2.A national public campaign to raise awareness about the facts behind child exploitation crimes, how families can protect their children, and how the public can work with ICE to provide tips and take predators off the streets.

"Today's agreement brings together two extremely powerful forces in the fight against child exploitation," Garcia said. "By uniting the resources and authorities of ICE with the reach and expertise of NCMEC, we will be making the world a far more difficult place for child predators. The fact that ICE has already arrested more than 450 child predators in the Los Angeles area since July demonstrates our ongoing commitment to this effort."

That prediction was echoed by NCMEC's leadership. "Not only does this partnership strengthen ICE's ability to capture child predators, it also increases NCMEC's ability to identify, recover, and help child victims," NCMEC President Allen explained.

Garcia also announced today that in the coming months, ICE will launch a public outreach campaign in conjunction with Operation Predator. NCMEC and other public and private sector organizations will join ICE as it conducts community meetings throughout the United States to raise awareness about child sexual exploitation. The events will educate parents, teachers, church staff, and others who work with young people about the threats posed by sexual predators and what can be done to protect their children.

At this morning's news conference, Assistant Secretary Garcia pledged that ICE will continue to aggressively pursue child sexual predators and take them off the streets. The latest Los Angeles area Predator arrests involved targets in more than 20 communities in five area counties -- Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange.

Among those arrested was Sostenes Garza-Sierra of Desert Hot Springs. The 69-year-old legal permanent resident was sentenced to eight years in prison for molesting several children he transported when he worked as a bus driver for the King City Transit Agency in Monterey County during the 1980s. Garza, who more recently worked as a part time laborer, lived less than one mile from a local high school. Also arrested within the last week was Isidro Sanchez-Torres, a 35-year-old landscaper originally from Mexico, who was convicted in 1996 of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl in a public parking lot.

These latest Los Angeles area Predator arrests involved criminal aliens from 11 different nations, including the Philippines, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Chile, Canada, Iran, El Salvador, Korea, and Peru. The majority of those taken into custody this week are lawful permanent residents whose crimes make them subject to removal from the United States. Those individuals will be placed in immigration removal proceedings. The criminal aliens who have no immigration status, or who have been previously ordered deported, can be removed without a judicial hearing.

LOS ANGELES AREA PREDATOR ARRESTS (July '03 -- Jan. '04)

Los Angeles 112
Oxnard/Ventura 78
San Bernardino/Riverside 117
Orange County 144

Total Arrests 451

As part of its partnership with NCMEC, ICE agents are assigned full-time to process tips NCMEC receives on its CyberTipline and Internet site. Those leads are then sent to ICE field offices, such as Los Angeles, for follow up investigation. ICE has also established a toll-free number for the public to report illegal activity, including information about child sex offenders and others who put children at risk. The number, 1-866-DHS-2ICE, is monitored 24 hours a day.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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