FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Docket #: 1:09-cr-00215-LJO

FRESNO, Calif. — Jose Gutierrez-Valenzuela, 63, of Mexico, was sentenced on Monday, June 11, 2012, by United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill to seven years in prison for illegal reentry by a previously deported alien, announced United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner.
On March 6, 2012, during jury selection, Gutierrez-Valenzuela pleaded guilty to a single count of illegal reentry by a previously deported alien. In sentencing Gutierrez-Valenzuela, Judge O’Neill found that Gutierrez-Valenzuela was a dangerous man and that a lesser sentence was not warranted.
According to court documents, Gutierrez-Valenzuela was deported from the United States in 1995. He had a 24-year criminal record in California that included convictions for assault with a firearm, brandishing a firearm, discharging a firearm, drug possession, and drug trafficking. In January 2009, he was found in the Eastern District of California.  
“As this sentence demonstrates, we will not allow criminal aliens who pose a threat to public safety to treat our border like a revolving door,” said Monte LaFave, assistant field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Bakersfield. “ICE is committed to using its unique immigration enforcement authorities to ensure that our communities are protected from those who show no regard for our laws or our borders.”
This case was the product of an investigation by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant United States Attorney Ian Garriques prosecuted the case.

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