Homeland Security Office Comes to Tyler

TYLER � A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement�s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office is opening in Tyler. The announcement was made at a reception yesterday by John Bales, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas and Department of Homeland Security Special Agent in Charge John Chakwin Jr. The Tyler ICE HSI Office is located in the U.S. Attorney�s Office at 110 North College in downtown Tyler. Authorities say ICE HSI is dedicated to protecting homeland security by enforcing the nation�s immigration and customs laws. Until now, the closest ICE HSI special agents were housed in the Dallas area and required to make a 200-mile round trip to work on Tyler-area cases.

The ICE HSI special agents at the Tyler office will be investigating a range of immigration and law enforcement responsibilities. Those include worksite enforcement, intellectual property rights, human smuggling and human trafficking, money laundering, child pornography and sexual exploitation crimes against children, drug trafficking, and many others. To report suspicious activity, the public is encouraged to call the ICE toll-free number — 1-866-347-2423.