Today, U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby sentenced Martin Martinez-Ballinas, a 38-year-old Mexican national, to 37 months in federal prison. Martinez-Ballinas will also undergo one year of supervised release for illegally reentering the United States following a prior felony conviction. This announcement came from U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Kelly O. Hayes, along with Acting Field Office Director Nikita Baker from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) in Baltimore.
Martinez-Ballinas pled guilty to the charge in January 2025. Court records indicate that Martinez-Ballinas had been deported twice before. In 2017, he was convicted in Maryland of a felony automotive offense related to a traffic accident that resulted in the death of an off-duty Marine. After serving his sentence in that case, he was deported in 2020.
In 2021, Martinez-Ballinas attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border into Texas and was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol. He was convicted for his first illegal reentry offense in the Southern District of Texas, receiving a 15-month prison sentence. Deported again in October 2022, Martinez-Ballinas reentered the U.S. in December 2023 and was caught by ICE in Maryland.
U.S. Attorney Hayes acknowledged ICE-ERO for their role in the investigation. Appreciation was also extended to Department of Justice Trial Attorney Christopher Ting and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rosenthal for prosecuting the case. Information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office is available at www.justice.gov/usao-md.
