Cartel money courier added to DHS “worst of the worst” criminal alien list
A second Singaporean has been included on a United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website listing what the agency refers to as “the worst of the worst criminal aliens,” following her involvement in a cartel-linked money laundering operation.
Lim Seok Pheng was added to the public database on 6 February 2026. The DHS stated the list was expanded by 5,000 names, bringing the total number of individuals listed to 25,011.
“These are the monsters who have terrorized our communities,” DHS said in a social media post. “We are not stopping until every single one of these people is gone.”
Lim’s inclusion followed her release from a federal prison in Texas in December 2025 and her subsequent detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As reported by The Straits Times, Lim applied on 15 December 2025 for an S visa, a non-immigrant visa for individuals who assist US law enforcement. Her application was submitted shortly before her scheduled release from prison on 23 December 2025.
The application was denied, and Lim was taken into ICE custody upon her release.
Details of Lim’s role in the laundering operation were outlined in a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which upheld the convictions and sentencing of laundering ring leader Xianbing Gan in November 2022.
According to the appeals court, Lim was recruited in early 2016 to serve as a courier in an international money laundering network that catered to drug trafficking organizations.
The court described how the network used “mirror transactions” to transfer illicit proceeds across borders. Drug trafficking groups handed large amounts of US currency to couriers, who then passed the cash to US businesses needing liquidity.
Those businesses deposited equivalent amounts in Chinese renminbi into bank accounts in China controlled by the laundering organization. The funds were subsequently withdrawn in US dollars or Mexican pesos and returned to the cartels.
Lim was expected to conduct one to two transactions weekly, involving amounts between US$100,000 and US$1 million, according to the court.
To maintain anonymity and security, the operation depended on burner phones, aliases, coded language, and verification methods like matching serial numbers on US$1 bills during cash handovers.
The appeals court noted that more than US$1.1 million connected to the organization was confiscated in 2017. Lim was arrested in May 2018 and later agreed to cooperate with US authorities.
Acting undercover, she recorded conversations and took part in three controlled cash pickups. Her testimony was supported by intercepted communications and recordings, according to the judges.
Lim testified that Gan coordinated the transactions and sought to expand the operation into additional US cities. References to “products” in recorded conversations were reasonably interpreted as drug money.
The court dismissed defense claims that Lim’s testimony was unreliable or improperly bolstered, determining that prosecutors were within their rights to explain her cooperation agreement and incentives to testify truthfully.
Gan was convicted on three counts of money laundering and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was acquitted on a conspiracy charge but sentenced to 168 months’ imprisonment.
The laundering network was linked to multiple drug cartels, including the Sinaloa cartel previously led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the ruling indicated.
Lim’s inclusion raises the number of Singaporeans on the DHS website to two. The other is Amos Yee, a convicted child sex offender.
Yee was transferred to ICE custody after being granted parole on 20 November 2025, following partial completion of a six-year sentence for child pornography offenses and grooming a minor.
He is currently detained at the Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana. According to a series of blog posts published on 4 February 2026 by a site operated by his supporters, Yee is anticipated to sign deportation papers on 12 February following his release from US detention.
The posts included a letter addressed to the Singapore government, in which Yee argued against repatriation. He cited likely imprisonment for national service default and warned of political disruption if returned.
The DHS website was launched on 8 December 2025 and compiles information on “criminal illegal aliens arrested by DHS during enforcement operations since the start of the Trump administration,” the agency stated.
No further personal details about Lim were provided on the DHS website.
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