NEWARK, N.J. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Newark arrested four undocumented immigrants with convictions related to child sexual exploitation as part of an ongoing initiative known as Operation Apex Predator, the agency announced Monday.
The arrests occurred over four days and involved cooperation between ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) teams based in Newark.
On July 21, agents apprehended Gerson Jose Saenz Umana, 27, a registered sex offender from El Salvador with a sealed conviction involving child exploitation, and Javier Garcia Nicolasa, 42, a Mexican national convicted in 2023 for endangering sexual conduct with a child by caretaker. Nicolasa was sentenced to three years in prison. Both individuals were found to be in the country illegally.
Just days earlier, on July 17, ICE arrested Juan Villatoro Valle, 45, of El Salvador, and Reyes Peralta-Salazar, 38, of Mexico. Villatoro Valle was convicted in 2019 of multiple offenses, including aggravated criminal sexual assault on a child under 13, and sentenced to five years in prison. Peralta-Salazar was arrested in 2023 and later sentenced to 180 days for criminal sexual conduct involving a child.
All four individuals are registered sex offenders in New Jersey and remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings or immigration hearings.
Operation Apex Predator targets convicted criminal alien sex offenders residing in the U.S., as part of a nationwide effort by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Crimes Center.
ICE says four convicted child sex offenders illegally living in New Jersey were arrested in just four days during the latest crackdown under Operation Apex Predator.