Three foreign nationals have been sentenced in Philadelphia for illegally reentering the United States after previous deportations, according to U.S. Attorney David Metcalf.
Wilfido Hernandez-Ordonez, also known as Leo Acevedo and Leo Hernandez, a 40-year-old Guatemalan national, pleaded guilty to illegal reentry and was sentenced by United States District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr. to time served, which amounted to nearly three months. After serving his sentence, he will be removed from the country again. Hernandez-Ordonez had previously been deported in May 2009 under an immigration judge’s order but returned at an unknown date. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) discovered his presence in Lehigh County jail earlier this year and took him into custody in May before charging him with illegal reentry in June.
Leondro Medina-Murillo, a 45-year-old Mexican national, also pleaded guilty to illegal reentry and received a sentence of time served—almost four months—from United States District Judge John M. Younge. He too will be removed from the country following his prison term. Medina-Murillo was first removed from the U.S. in September 2013 after a drug conviction in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and was deported twice more in April and May 2014 after encounters with U.S. Border Patrol in California. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) learned earlier this year that he had returned to Chester County; after confirming his identity through records checks and surveillance, HSI arrested him in April and charged him with illegal reentry in May.
Jillian Santiago-Cruz, also known as Julian Santiago, Julian Santigo Rodas, and Julian Santiago De La Cruz, is a 38-year-old Mexican national who was sentenced last week by United States District Judge Karen S. Marston to time served—about three and a half months—for illegally reentering the country. Following completion of his sentence, he will be removed again. An immigration judge ordered Santiago-Cruz’s removal in absentia in March 2011 due to illegal entry; he was eventually deported in November 2019 after an Ohio conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol. He later returned illegally and was arrested by Plymouth Township Police Department on several charges this March; ICE subsequently took him into custody in April before he pleaded guilty to illegal reentry in June.
“These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf. “Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).”
The investigations were led by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations along with HSI, while Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Schopf, J. Andrew Jenemann, and Mary E. Crawley prosecuted these cases.
