ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Front Royal man was sentenced late yesterday to ten months in prison for illegally reentering the United States after previously being deported following an aggravated felony conviction.
“Castillo Garcia was convicted of reckless driving and five separate drunk driving offenses in a seven-year period," said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “After serving a prison sentence, he was removed from the United States, only to illegally return. Castillo Garcia has consistently demonstrated a complete lack of regard for the safety of others by repeatedly-at least five times-taking to the roads drunk, and has shown a blatant disregard for America’s state and federal laws over the course of two decades. Defendants like Castillo Garcia represent a significant threat to public safety, and cases such as this one are precisely why we prioritize criminal immigration prosecutions and value the critical federal, state, and local law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), collaboration here in the Eastern District."
According to court documents, Jose Guillermo Castillo Garcia, 45, is a Salvadoran national who previously entered the United States illegally and was convicted of five DWIs and multiple felonies, one of which constituted an “aggravated felony" as defined by federal law, before being deported in 2007. Despite being barred from returning, Castillo Garcia clandestinely reentered the United States. In 2018, he was convicted of a sixth DWI in his absence after failing to appear in court in Fairfax County.
“Castillo Garcia repeatedly flouted the law, as evidenced by his multiple reckless and drunk driving convictions-each instance putting the community at risk-and by his choice to reenter the country after being ordered removed," said Lyle Boelens, Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington Field Office.
G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Lyle Boelens, Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis, III. Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Blanchard prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:20-cr-14.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
