ICE Arrests Former “Dancing With the Stars” Contestant from Latvia with Violent Criminal History in California

This illegal alien was previously a contestant on the Latvian equivalent of “Dancing With the Stars”

WASHINGTON – The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an illegal alien and former reality TV contestant from Latvia with a criminal history that includes sexual battery, aggravated assault, and drug possession.

On July 28, ICE law enforcement arrested Roberts Nemiro, a criminal illegal alien from Latvia, in San Francisco after a referral by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). His criminal history includes convictions for aggravated assault of non-family with a gun and disorderly conduct, and arrests for battery, sexual battery, possession of controlled substance, and possession of paraphernalia.

Roberts Nemiro

Nemiro was previously a contestant on “Dejo ar zvaigzni!”, the Latvian version of the British TV series “Strictly Come Dancing,” also known as “Dancing With the Stars.”

“This illegal alien from Latvia may have once had a career as a professional dancer on TV, but has turned into a career criminal with a rap sheet that includes aggravated assault with a gun, sexual battery, and drug possession,” said Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “Despite California being a sanctuary state, ICE was able to arrest this criminal and get him off our streets, and he will soon be deported from our country. ICE is bringing the curtain down on his illegal stay and crime spree here in the U.S.”

Nemiro first came to the United States on a visa in October 2011. He then illegally overstayed his visa after it expired in August 2012. He is in removal proceedings.

Under Governor Gavin Newsom, California has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime. Some of the recent illegal alien crimes in the sanctuary state include:

• In July, ICE lodged a detainer for Gokhan Bagci, an illegal alien from Turkey, after his arrest for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl at a daycare in Sacramento, California.
• In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Joaquin Escoto Vazquez, an illegal alien from Mexico, after his arrest for fatally stabbing two women and a baby in Modesto, California.
• In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Manvir Singh, an illegal alien from India, after he was arrested for causing a semi-truck crash that killed two people near Lodi, California.
• In May, ICE arrested Aman Kumar, an illegal alien from India, who had been released by sanctuary politicians in California after causing a hit-and-run accident that injured a 4-year-old boy in Fresno, California.
• In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Wilfredo Jose Tortolero-Arriechi, an illegal alien from Venezuela, after he had been arrested for fatally stabbing a social worker in a hospital in San Francisco, California.
• In April, ICE arrested David Antonio Aviles Perez, an illegal alien from El Salvador and MS-13 member, in San Diego, California, who has an international warrant for aggravated murder and had previously been arrested in California for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and petty theft.
• In February, Governor Newsom pardoned Somboon Phaymany, an illegal alien from Cambodia who had been convicted for attempted murder and assault with a firearm. 
• In January, ICE lodged a detainer for Enrique Bautista Vasquez, an illegal alien from Mexico, after he had been arrested for raping an autistic girl in Cathedral City, California.
• In December 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Brayan Alva-Rodriguez, an illegal alien from Guatemala, after he had been arrested for causing a drunk driving crash that killed an 8-year-old girl in San Diego, California.
• In December 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Hector Balderas-Aheelor, an illegal alien from Mexico who had been previously deported FOUR times, after he was arrested for causing a felony hit-and-run accident that killed an 11-year-old boy on Thanksgiving morning. 
• In November 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Humberto Munoz-Gatica, an illegal alien from Mexico, after he was arrested for driving under the influence and hit-and-run following a fatal crash that killed a 71-year-old man in Orange County, California. 
• In October 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Beto Cerillo-Bialva, an illegal alien from Mexico, after he was arrested for murder following a drunk-driving crash that killed six people in Napa County, California.
• In June 2025, ICE arrested Cuong Chanh Phan, an illegal alien from Vietnam, who had been convicted of second-degree murder for his involvement in a mass shooting in 1994 that killed two teenagers and injured seven others at a graduation party in San Marino, California. 
• In June 2024, Partap Singh, an illegal alien from India, caused a multi-car pileup while driving an 18-wheeler recklessly in San Bernardino, California, after he had been given a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) by Newsom’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The crash seriously injured 5-year-old Dalilah Coleman and several others.

In addition to the crimes committed by illegal aliens in California, Governor Newsom’s sanctuary policies have had disastrous consequences in other states as well. These include:

• In July, ICE lodged a detainer for Axel Eduardo Chavez-Marroquin, an illegal alien from El Salvador, after he was arrested for murdering a veteran in Utah. He had twice been arrested in California for domestic violence – in Santa Ana in 2024, and then in Laguna Niguel in 2025 – but despite ICE lodging detainers against him both times, California sanctuary politicians released him from jail and back into the community.
• In January, ICE lodged detainers for Gunpreet Singh and Jasveer Singh, criminal illegal aliens from India, after they had been arrested for smuggling more than 300 pounds of cocaine in a semi-truck in Putnam County, Indiana. Governor Newsom’s DMV had given both men CDLs.
• In December 2025, ICE arrested Gerson Emir Cuadra Soto, an illegal alien from Honduras and MS-13 member who is wanted in his home country for a quadruple homicide, in Grand Island, Nebraska. He had been given a driver’s license by Newsom’s DMV.
• In November 2025, Rajinder Kumar, an illegal alien from India who had been given a CDL by Newsom’s DMV, jackknifed his semi-truck and trailer on a highway in Deschutes County, Oregon, killing a newlywed couple. ICE arrested Kumar in April 2026.
• In August 2025, ICE arrested Harneet Singh, an illegal alien from India, after he killed three people on the Florida Turnpike by making an illegal U-turn in his semi-truck. Newsom’s DMV had given Singh his CDL.
• In August 2025, ICE lodged a detainer for Harjinder Singh, an illegal alien from India, after he made an illegal U-turn in his semi-truck and killed three people in St. Lucie County, Florida. Singh had obtained his CDL in Newsom’s California.

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