Federico Montalvo Salas, a 22-year-old Mexican national residing illegally in Charleston, West Virginia, has pleaded guilty to the crime of reentry of a removed alien. Following his plea, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will take custody of Salas for removal proceedings after any sentence is served.
Court documents reveal that Salas was arrested on March 28, 2025, in the South Charleston area. ICE agents confirmed his illegal status and noted that he had been previously deported from the United States. Salas lacked identification documents granting him legal status in the country.
Salas was deported to Mexico on June 28, 2024, after being apprehended near Douglas, Arizona. He did not obtain consent from the Secretary of U.S. Homeland Security to reapply for admission nor sought legal means to reenter the United States.
Salas's sentencing is scheduled for October 23, 2025. He faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison and up to one year of supervised release before being subject to deportation proceedings.
Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston announced the case details and commended the investigative efforts by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
The hearing was presided over by United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston with Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan T. Storage prosecuting as part of a special unit focused on immigration enforcement under Operation Take Back America.
Operation Take Back America is an initiative by the Department of Justice aimed at combating illegal immigration and dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations while protecting communities from violent crime perpetrators.
Further information about this case can be found on PACER using Case No. 2:25-cr-82 or through the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
