Three individuals have received sentences for illegally reentering the United States after previous deportations as part of Operation Take Back America, a coordinated crackdown on illegal immigration aimed at stemming the tide of unauthorized entry and dismantling cartel operations. This week, United States District Judges Catherine Henry and Timothy J. Savage released their decision on the trio, each of whom is a national of a different country, confirming sentences comparable to the time they have already served in detention, which ranges between three and three and a half months.
Rigoberto Buox, 44, a Guatemalan national, was apprehended by the US Border Patrol in 2016 and deported from the US in September of the same year. Following a run-in with the law in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where he was charged with assault, Buox was detained by ICE again in April and pleaded guilty to illegal reentry. According to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office, he waived indictment, and Judge Henry sentenced him to time served.
In a similar vein, 32-year-old Honduran national Kevin Portillo-Urquia was sentenced to time served after ICE and ATF investigators discovered him during a combined operation in Philadelphia. Portillo-Urquia, who was not initially targeted in the investigation, was later identified as having been deported in July 2012 for illegal entry. Authorities seized him in March, charged him with illegal reentry in April, and he subsequently entered a guilty plea.
Wagner De Leon-Morales, a 46-year-old Mexican national, completes the trio. Two deportations to Mexico in 2008 led to his discovery during an ICE worksite enforcement operation in Pennsylvania. De Leon-Morales confessed to authorities about his illegal presence in the nation, was arrested in April, and was charged with illegal reentry in May, to which he pled guilty and waived prosecution by indictment. “These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration,” the US Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, ATF, and HSI handled the respective investigations, and Assistant United States Attorneys Kelly Lewis Fallenstein, S. Chandler Harris, and Rebecca Kulik are credited with prosecuting the cases. This broad endeavor demonstrates the current administration’s commitment to robust immigration policy enforcement and crime reduction related to unauthorized border crossings.