Two foreign nationals have been sentenced in Philadelphia for illegally reentering the United States after being deported. The cases were announced by U.S. Attorney David Metcalf.
Dagoberto Herrera-Abreu, also known as Roberto Rovira, a 52-year-old Dominican national, received a sentence of 12 months and one day in prison from United States District Judge Mia Roberts Perez. After serving his sentence, Herrera-Abreu will be removed from the country again.
Herrera-Abreu was previously deported in September 2010 following a state prison term for possession with intent to deliver controlled substances in Philadelphia and additional time after leaving a drug treatment facility without authorization. In July 2024, during the execution of a narcotics search warrant in Northeast Philadelphia by a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) task force, he was encountered and later charged with a drug offense to which he pleaded guilty. Upon completion of his state sentence earlier this year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took him into federal custody. He was indicted for illegal reentry in February and pleaded guilty in April.
Claudio Reyes-Morales, a 36-year-old Mexican national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Paul S. Diamond to time served—over two months—for illegal reentry. He will also be removed from the country again now that his sentence is complete.
Reyes-Morales had previously been deported twice: once in October 2011 and again in June 2012 after encounters with U.S. Border Patrol agents in Arizona. Earlier this year, ICE became aware of his arrest by Norristown Police Department; HSI and ICE officers encountered him again while executing an unrelated search warrant in July and took him into custody. He was charged with illegal reentry by information in August and pleaded guilty this week, waiving prosecution by indictment.
“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,” according to officials involved with Operation Take Back America. “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 conducted by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations along with HSI. Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Schopf and Michael Miller prosecuted both cases.
