Disclaimer: This article mentions possession and distribution of harmful material involving minors.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of Yasir Saud, an Iraqi criminal illegal alien who recently finished a five-year sentence for crimes against children, on Monday evening.
According to ICE, the ICE New Orleans team apprehended Saud in late December. An immigration judge ordered his removal, and Saud will be deported.
Additional details regarding Saud’s arrest were not publicly available as of publication. It is also unclear whether Saud committed another crime against children or if his impending deportation stems solely from the prison sentence.
IRAQI CHILD PREDATOR DETAINED
Iraqi criminal illegal alien Yasir Saud recently finished a 5-year sentence for possession of child sexual abuse material and was arrested by @ERONewOrleans in late December.
An immigration judge ordered his removal, and he will be deported. pic.twitter.com/fQYNe0zdDH
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) January 19, 2026
Court documents show that in August 2020, Facebook notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that Saud, who was living in Virginia at the time, may have been distributing illegal material through Facebook Messenger. NCMEC forwarded that information to the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO), which contacted the FBI. Several months later, the FBI began investigating Saud and discovered that he had eight email accounts and “various aliases” used to upload, download, and distribute the harmful material.
The court found Saud accountable for 41 total files (29 videos and 12 images) constituting harmful material against minors. When speaking with investigators, Saud admitted he uploaded the content to WeChat and viewed similar material on Telegram. He added that he and others in a group used the material to “shut down a group or an account.”
Saud received a five-year prison sentence in April 2022, along with 15 years of supervised release.
More than 3,000 arrests of criminal illegal aliens in Minneapolis’ Operation Metro Surge since its inception.
ICE and @DHSgov‘s work is just getting started. pic.twitter.com/kCNOxyGt6I
— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (@ICEgov) January 19, 2026
Saud is the latest convicted felon with a criminal history involving crimes against children to be apprehended by ICE. The news of Saud’s impending deportation comes after ICE and the Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday, January 19, that over 3,000 criminal illegal aliens have been arrested in Minneapolis as part of Operation Metro Surge, which began in early December. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said ICE has arrested over 10,000 total illegal aliens in Minneapolis in what she called a “HUGE victory for public safety.”
A significant portion of recent arrestees in Minneapolis have prior arrests, charges, or convictions involving crimes against children, including physical abuse and assault. According to Noem’s X page, many of those arrested for such crimes come from Laos and Thailand. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin shared in an X post Monday afternoon that ICE is targeting two convicted sex offenders in St. Paul.
If you suspect that a child is being abused or neglected, or if you are a child who is being mistreated, call 800-422-4453 immediately. The ChildHelp National Child Abuse Hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
