Leah B. Foley United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts | Department of Justice
A Dominican national living in Worcester was sentenced in federal court for illegally reentering the United States after being deported. Jose Luis Urena-Vasquez, 49, received a three-year prison sentence from U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman. After completing his sentence, he will be subject to deportation.
Urena-Vasquez pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of unlawful reentry of a deported alien. He had been indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2025.
Immigration officials first encountered Urena-Vasquez in 2008 while he was serving an 11-month sentence for drug distribution at the Essex County House of Corrections. After finishing his sentence, he was placed into removal proceedings and deported to the Dominican Republic on March 25, 2009.
He later returned to the United States without permission. In 2018, he faced charges in Lawrence District Court including armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and possession of a firearm. He fled Massachusetts but was arrested in Florida and returned to face state charges. That same year, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for unlawful reentry and pleaded guilty in May 2019. In April 2020, he received an eight-month federal prison sentence and three years of supervised release consecutive to his pending state sentences.
Afterward, Urena-Vasquez also pleaded guilty to armed assault to murder and related offenses in Essex Superior Court and served several years in prison. He was removed from the United States again in February 2024 but unlawfully returned around July 2024.
In May 2025, authorities became aware of his presence after his arrest on alleged state fraud offenses in Worcester.
"United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Patricia H. Hyde, Acting Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston made the announcement." "Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan O’Shea of the Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case."
