El Salvadoran national sentenced for illegal re-entry

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A citizen of El Salvador, who once waded the Rio Grande to illegally re-enter the United States, was sentenced Friday to 15 months in federal prison for illegal re-entry in a case investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jose Uriel Acevedo Alfaro, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton.

According to court records, Alfaro illegally entered the U.S. in 1998. In 2001, Alfaro received a felony conviction after he and three others used knives to rob gold necklaces from a patron of a bar in Stamford, Conn. He returned to El Salvador in 2006.

In June 2008, Alfaro was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in Texas after he had entered the U.S. illegally by wading the Rio Grande. He eventually pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering the U.S. and was sentenced to 20 days in prison. Alfaro was returned to El Salvador in December 2008.

Alfaro illegally re-entered the U.S. in March 2009. After an encounter with police in Stamford in August 2009, he was taken into custody by ICE special agents and again removed to El Salvador in October 2009.

Alfaro once again re-entered the U.S. in September 2010, and, on Jan. 30, 2011, he was arrested by Stamford Police. He pleaded guilty to a charge of interfering with an officer and resisting arrest and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. On April 20, 2011, he was transferred to the custody of the United States Marshals Service.

On July 21, 2011, Alfaro pleaded guilty to one count of illegal presence of an alien after removal. He will be deported following his release from prison.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Ikari.