US: Indian man accused of sexual assault, larceny detained by ICE

WASHINGTON: The US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has accused an Indian man of several offences including the sexual assault of a minor and has him detained.

Sharing the details in a post on X, ICE said he was accused of sexual assault of a child under 13 years of age, shoplifting and public disorder. The post added, “Vodela Yashaswi Kottapalli, a criminal illegal alien from India, has pending charges for sexual assault and larceny in New Jersey. We’ll keep him in custody pending removal proceedings”.

—SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A CHILD UNDER 13
—SHOPLIFTING
—PUBLIC DISORDER

Vodela Yashaswi Kottapalli, a criminal illegal alien from India, has pending charges for sexual assault and larceny in New Jersey.

We’ll keep him in custody pending removal proceedings. pic.twitter.com/VM97e9KUD9

— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) February 16, 2026

Under Trump 2.0, ICE has been heavily cracking down on illegal aliens in the country. Previously, ICE had also shared details last December of an Indian truck driver involved in a fatal motorway accident in Oregon that killed two people in the United States.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Kumar entered the country “illegally” through Arizona in November 2022 and was subsequently granted work authorisation and a commercial driving license by California state authorities.

The case followed several similar accidents involving Indian nationals driving heavy goods vehicles in America. In recent months, US authorities have highlighted at least three other fatal crashes involving undocumented Indian lorry drivers in Florida and California.

Formed in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the former US Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, ICE now has more than 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel in more than 400 offices in the United States and around the world.

The agency has an annual budget of approximately $8 billion, primarily devoted to three operational directorates — Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA). A fourth directorate — Management and Administration (M&A) — supports the three operational branches to advance the ICE mission. (ANI)