A Guatemalan national living in Illinois has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for illegally re-entering the United States after being deported. Santos Vasquez-Ortiz was found unlawfully present in the country when he was arrested in 2021 on charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault in McHenry County, Illinois. He was later convicted of that offense in state court.
Vasquez-Ortiz had previously been deported from the United States in 2008 and did not have permission from the U.S. government to return. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty in federal court in Rockford to one count of unlawful re-entry after removal.
U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston handed down the two-year federal prison sentence on November 17, 2025.
The sentencing was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Matthew J. Scarpino, Special Agent-in-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Ladd represented the government.
