Gulfport, Miss. - Yesenia Flores-Ortega, 27, an illegal alien from Mexico, pled guilty yesterday before Senior U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr., to unlawful reentry by an alien after removal, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, Special Agent in Charge Jere T. Miles with Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, and Gregory K. Bovino, Chief Patrol Agent of the Border Patrol’s New Orleans Sector.
Flores-Ortega is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 25, 2020. She faces a potential 2 years in prison, 1 year of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, as well as Homeland Security removal proceedings.
On Sept. 12, 2019, a Harrison County Sheriff’s Department Interdiction Unit Agent stopped a Sport Utility Vehicle on Interstate 10 eastbound. Agents made contact with Flores-Ortega, who was the driver of the vehicle. Flores-Ortega and her three passengers were determined to be illegal aliens to the United States who had returned after being removed.
Flores-Ortega had been removed pursuant to a lawful Removal Order signed on Jan. 27, 2015. She was charged in a federal criminal indictment with unlawful return of an alien after removal. Each of the three passengers were also prosecuted and pled guilty to the same crime.
U.S. Attorney Hurst praised the cooperation exhibited by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stan Harris is the prosecutor for the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
