Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced Sarah Louise Branch, 37, of New South Wales, Australia was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Nancy Torresen to 70 days in prison for encouraging and inducing illegal entry of Benigno Godinez-Cortez into the United States on July 10, 2018. Ms. Branch and M. Godinez-Cortez pled guilty on Aug. 14, 2018 in U.S. District Court to immigration felony offenses.
According to court records, a Mexican passport, male clothing and photographs of Benigno Godinez-Cortez were discovered in the van of Sarah Branch when she sought admission to the United States at a Port of Entry in Calais, Maine. Upon questioning by Customs and Border Protection Officers, Ms. Branch admitted she knew her boyfriend, a citizen of Mexico, would not be admitted into the United States and that she therefore dropped him off “somewhere" near the border of Canada and the United States. She then confessed she told Godinez-Cortez she would cross at the nearest port of entry and then would pick him up after he contacted her by cell phone.
U.S. Attorney Frank stated that the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security are committed to securing the international border and ensuring that each person who seeks to enter our country present himself or herself at a designated crossing point or port of entry.
The investigation was conducted by Customs and Border Protection, a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
