Mexican national sentenced to 27 months for illegally re-entering US

MADISON, Wis. – A previously deported Mexican national with a prior drug conviction was sentenced Friday for illegally re-entering the United States after deportation. The sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Jesus Almendarez-Castillo, 48, was sentenced Oct. 7 by U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb in the Western District of Wisconsin to 27 months in prison, without the possibility of parole, for illegally re-entering the United States after previously being deported. Almendarez-Castillo pleaded guilty to this charge on July 29. Reentering the United States after being formally deported is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Almendarez-Castillo was arrested by ICE ERO outside his home in Watertown, Wis., on May 3. A records check revealed that Almendarez-Castillo was convicted in 1989 of transporting marijuana in California. He was ordered removed from the United States to Mexico in 1991.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter M. Jarosz, Western District of Wisconsin, successfully prosecuted the case.