Candio Tierra Blanca-Quesada, a 43-year-old native of Mexico, was sentenced on July 9 by United States District Judge Eldon E. Fallon after pleading guilty to reentry of a removed alien, according to an announcement from U.S. Attorney David I. Courcelle.
Tierra Blanca-Quesada received a sentence equal to the time he has already served in prison, along with a one-year term of supervised release and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee. He has been detained in federal prison since January 2.
Court records show that Tierra Blanca-Quesada had previously been removed from the United States on three occasions: March 30, 2007; January 5, 2012; and October 28, 2012. He was later found in the Eastern District of Louisiana by an agent of the United States Border Patrol on December 29, having reentered the country without authorization from either the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, which is described as a nationwide initiative using Department of Justice resources “to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.”
U.S. Attorney Courcelle praised U.S. Customs and Border Protection for its work investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Shannon Kippers is handling the prosecution.