United States Attorney David Metcalf has announced the sentencing of three foreign nationals for illegally reentering the United States after prior deportations. The individuals, Rigoberto Buox, Kevin Portillo-Urquia, and Wagner De Leon-Morales, were each sentenced to time served.
Rigoberto Buox, a 44-year-old Guatemalan national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Catherine Henry to nearly three months of time served. He will be removed from the country following his sentence. Buox had previously been deported in September 2016 after being arrested by U.S. Border Patrol. Last year, he was arrested on an assault charge by Phoenixville Police Department and subsequently taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in April. He pleaded guilty to illegal reentry this week.
Kevin Portillo-Urquia, a 32-year-old Honduran national, received a similar sentence from United States District Judge Timothy J. Savage for approximately three and a half months of time served. After initially being deported in July 2012 for crossing the border illegally, he was apprehended during a joint enforcement operation by ICE and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Philadelphia earlier this year. Portillo-Urquia pleaded guilty to illegal reentry.
Wagner De Leon-Morales, aged 46 from Mexico, was sentenced to nearly three months of time served by Judge Henry as well. Previously removed twice in 2008 after encounters with U.S. Border Patrol agents, De Leon-Morales admitted his illegal status during an ICE worksite enforcement operation this March in Bethlehem Township. He pleaded guilty to illegal reentry this week.
These cases are part of Operation Take Back America which aims to combat illegal immigration and transnational criminal organizations while protecting communities from violent crime perpetrators. The initiative utilizes resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). Investigations were conducted by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations along with ATF and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with prosecutions led by Assistant United States Attorneys Kelly Lewis Fallenstein, S. Chandler Harris, and Rebecca Kulik.
