Alien sentenced to 4 months for immigration offenses

NEW YORK - A native and citizen of Jamaica who was a criminal alien fugitive and the target of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation was sentenced on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York for failing to comply with immigration regulations and requirements.

Rudolph Ford was sentenced to four months in federal prison and one year of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. On March 19, ICE officers from the Fugitive Operations Team and Violent Criminal Alien Section with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Rudolph Ford at his residence in Brooklyn, New York, pursuant to a federal arrest warrant.

Ford, who entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident in 1988, pled guilty in 1991 to manslaughter in the 2nd degree. This conviction made Ford amenable to removal. In 1996, Ford was placed into deportation proceedings by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. After appeals with the Board of Immigration Appeals and U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, Ford was ordered to leave the country voluntarily in 2006, which he failed to do. In addition, he violated the terms of his supervision with ICE by removing his electronic monitoring device.

"Mr. Ford was given ample opportunities to comply with the court's order for him to depart the United States," said Christopher Shanahan, field office director for the ICE Office of Detention and Removal Operations in New York. "Ford's refusal to comply landed him a prison sentence, which sends a powerful message to illegal aliens who surreptitiously defy immigration laws."

At the completion of his four-month prison sentence, Ford will be turned over to ICE and removed to Jamaica.