ICE HSI investigation results in 5-year sentence for Mexican national for illegally re-entering the US

PECOS, Texas – On Tuesday, a Mexican national was sentenced to 60 months in prison for unlawfully re-entering the United States after previously being removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation officers.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents investigated the case.

According to court documents, Efrain Gonzalez-Pargas, aka Efrain Gonzalez-Vargas, 39, of Zacatecas, Mexico, was encountered near Big Bend National Park on Aug. 24, 2021. Gonzalez admitted to U.S. Border Patrol agents that he had entered the United States illegally by wading across the Rio Grande.

On Oct. 12, 2021, Gonzalez pleaded guilty to illegally re-entering the United States in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326. Gonzalez had previously been sentenced to eight months in prison for the same offense in October 2020. ICE deportation officers removed him to Mexico after that conviction.

U.S. District Judge David Counts ordered Gonzalez to serve 46 months in prison for the current case, and another 14 months in prison for violating his supervised release for the 2020 case for a total of 60 months in prison.

At the sentencing hearing, evidence was presented that Gonzalez had a previous conviction in California for battery with serious bodily injury.

Gonzalez has remained in federal custody since his arrest on Aug. 24, 2021.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Weber and Scott V. Greenbaum prosecuted the case.

HSI is a directorate of ICE and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 225 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.

Learn more about HSI’s public safety mission in your community @HSIElPaso.