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Press Release

Illegal Alien Sentenced For Assaulting A Federal Officer

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Michigan

An illegal alien was sentenced yesterday to 18 months’ in federal prison for assaulting a federal officer, announced United States Attorney Matthew Schneider.

Schneider was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Vance Callendar, Homeland Security Investigations, Detroit Division.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider stated, “Our office continues to prosecute dangerous and violent offenders who are in our country illegally.  Our mission is to protect our community from violent criminals, and we will continue to do that by working with our law enforcement partners to keep our borders safe.”

“An assault on a law enforcement officer is unobjectionable, and this individual, illegally present in the U.S., will now face time for his actions.  HSI will continue to work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan for the investigation and prosecution of those who think they can operate above the law,” said Vance Callender, special agent in charge for HSI Detroit.

Sentenced was Enrique Ortega-Escudero, age 37.  According to court records, Enrique Ortega-Escudero assaulted a federal officer during an immigration arrest on February 2, 2020. During his arrest, Mr. Ortega-Escudero resisted and fought with the ICE agents. While being transported in an ambulance to Detroit Receiving Hospital for evaluation, Mr. Ortega-Escudero escaped.  He did so by opening the side door of the rear compartment while the ambulance was moving on Interstate 75 and ran across both lanes of traffic on the interstate. Following a foot pursuit, Mr. Ortega-Escudero again fought with an ICE agent and attempted to remove the agent’s firearm. With assistance from EMTs, Mr. Ortega-Escudero was again detained; however, the ICE agent suffered physical injuries.

Mr. Ortega-Escudero’s case is just one of the many immigration enforcement cases being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office.  Since January 1, 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has investigated or prosecuted approximately 80 immigration-related cases despite the increased challenges posed by the current environment. A sampling of cases are highlighted below:

Among those recently prosecuted is Hector Ramirez-Gutierrez, who repeatedly entered the U.S. illegally and used over four dozen aliases during three decades of committing crimes in the United States.  Mr. Ramirez-Gutierrez’s lengthy criminal history includes convictions for grand theft, burglary, battery, infliction of corporal injury on a spouse or co-habitant, driving under the influence, and multiple immigration offenses, among others. Most recently, Mr. Ramirez-Gutierrez violated his supervised release by returning unlawfully to the United States after his removal on September 19, 2019 and committing additional theft offenses in early 2020.  Mr. Ramirez-Gutierrez was charged with unlawful reentry and sentenced on June 24, 2020 and August 12, 2020 to two consecutive 24 month sentences for the supervised release and unlawful reentry violations. 

Gaspar Vallejo-Arias was a lawful permanent resident of the United States until he was convicted for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and removed to the Dominican Republic on April 7, 2015.  That crime involved Mr. Vallejo-Arias’ participation in a scheme to rob a drug dealer of a large amount of cocaine. Mr. Vallejo-Arias also had other felony convictions for auto-stripping and forgery. Following his removal, Mr. Vallejo-Arias unlawfully reentered the United States and was arrested near St. Clair, Michigan on February 4, 2020. He was charged with unlawful reentry and he was sentenced on June 17, 2020 to time-served.

Rolando Lopez-Lopez was convicted on February 8, 2018 of Operating while Intoxicated Causing Death and Reckless Driving Causing Death in the Third Circuit Court, Detroit, Michigan.  For those offenses, he was sentenced to 5 to 15 years’ imprisonment.  Mr. Lopez-Lopez had previously been removed from the United States on January 11, 2006.  On June 18, 2020, Mr. Lopez-Lopez was charged with unlawful reentry and was sentenced on September 10, 2020 to time-served.

On May 27, 2020, Eduardo Delgado-Campos was convicted of false use of a passport and unlawful reentry. Delgado-Campos was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for those offenses.  Previously, Mr. Delgado-Campos had been convicted of two drug offenses and unlawful entry into the United States.  Before his most recent federal conviction, Mr. Delgado-Campos had been removed from the United States by immigration authorities six times. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office routinely investigates and prosecutes alien smuggling, port-running, identity theft, passport fraud, the hiring and exploitation of unauthorized workers, and other immigration offenses that negatively impact the rule of law, public safety, and border security.    

 

 

Updated September 25, 2020

Topic
Immigration