Federal immigration authorities executed criminal arrest warrants at a Los Angeles business suspected of money laundering and customs fraud prior to downtown protests that turned fiery and stretched into the weekend, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
White House “border czar” Tom Homan on Monday revealed that federal law enforcement activity in the fashion district of downtown Los Angeles late last week was part of a multiagency effort to serve three warrants at a local business believed to be involved in a slew of cross-border crimes.
Following the operation, protesters quickly descended on downtown and surrounding regions and called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that enforces immigration laws inside the United States, to be abolished.
“The Fashion District wasn’t an immigration raid,” Homan told MSNBC Monday morning. “It was a service of three criminal warrants [at] locations based on a large criminal conspiracy … that has to do with money laundering, tax evasion, and customs fraud for a company that has undeclared, underdeclared over $80 million in goods, failed to pay $17 million in fees. They believe that some of this money is being laundered in Mexico to fund cartel activity.”
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that “rioters in Los Angeles are fighting to keep rapists, murderers, and other violent criminals loose on Los Angeles streets.”
“Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer,” McLaughlin said.
A number of those arrested while serving the warrant have been identified as illegal immigrants. Some of the illegal immigrants have been described as having serious criminal histories, including criminal histories that the DHS provided for the following 11 people, just a portion of the total arrests.
ICE arrested Cuong Chanh Phan, a Vietnamese national convicted of second-degree murder who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in connection with the killings of two teenagers at a high school graduation party in 1994. Phan, 49, and other alleged gang members were asked to leave the party following a dispute and returned with semiautomatic weapons and opened fire on attendees, killing Dennis Baun, 18, and David Hang, 15.
Filipino national Rolando Veneracion-Enriquez had a long rap sheet for sexual assault offenses. The 55-year-old was convicted of burglary in Ontario, Canada, and sexual penetration with a foreign object with force and assault with intent to commit rape in Pomona, California.
Lionel Sanchez-Laguna of Mexico was previously convicted of discharging a firearm at an inhabited dwelling and vehicle in Orange, California; battery on spouse or cohabitant; willful cruelty to a child; driving under the influence; and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
Armando Ordaz, 44, was previously convicted of sexual battery in Los Angeles, receiving known or stolen property, and petty theft. Ordaz is from Mexico.
Mexican national Francisco Sanchez-Arguello, 38, was arrested on charges of grand theft larceny and possession of a prohibited weapon.
Delfino Augilar-Martinez of Mexico was sent to jail with a conviction of assault with a deadly weapon with great bodily injury in Los Angeles. The 51-year-old was sentenced to one year in jail.
Another Mexican citizen, Victor Mendoza-Aguilar, was convicted of possessing unlawful paraphernalia, possessing controlled substances, assault with a deadly weapon, and obstructing a public officer in Pasadena, California. The 32-year-old man was sentenced to nearly a year in prison.
Jose Gregorio Medranda Ortiz of Ecuador has a criminal history that includes conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine while on board a vessel out of Tampa, Florida. The 42-year-old was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Jose Cristobal Hernandez-Buitron, a 43-year-old man from Peru, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbery.
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Jordan Mauricio Meza-Esquibel is a 32-year-old from Honduras who was arrested for the distribution of heroin and cocaine, as well as domestic violence.
Mexican citizen Jesus Alan Hernandez-Morales, 26, received 239 days in jail for attempting to smuggle an illegal immigrant in Las Cruces, New Mexico.