Five Foreign Nationals Sentenced in October for Illegally Reentering the United States After Deportation

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that five foreign nationals convicted separately of illegally reentering the United States after prior deportations were sentenced this month.

Santos Belen-Paredes, aka Angel Medina Vargas, 44, a Dominican national, was sentenced by United States District Judge John M. Gallagher to 18 months in prison and one year of supervised release for illegal reentry. Upon completing his prison sentence, he will be removed from the United States again.

Belen-Paredes had previously been removed from the U.S. in February 2012, after completing a 60-month state prison sentence for distribution of heroin and conspiracy to distribute heroin.

In February of this year, a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) task force encountered Belen-Paredes while executing a narcotics search warrant in Northeast Philadelphia. After confirming Belen-Paredes was illegally in the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers took him into custody.

The defendant was charged by indictment with illegal reentry in March and pleaded guilty in July.

Daniel Herrera Pavon, aka Fanny Leonardo Velasquez-Jerez, Mario Paulino, and Aldrin Pavon, 56, a Dominican national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Karen S. Marston to 14 months in prison for illegal reentry. Upon completing his prison sentence, he will be removed from the United States again.

Herrera Pavon had been removed from the U.S. twice before, in April 2000 and May 2005.

In May of this year, investigators with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Narcotics Investigation and HSI agents encountered Herrera Pavon, pursuant to a narcotics operation in Northeast Philadelphia. After confirming that the defendant was in the country illegally, they took him into custody.

Herrera Pavon was charged by indictment with illegal reentry in June and pleaded guilty in August.

Victor Aneudi Mota-Garcia, 41, aka Jesus Nieves-Rivera, a Dominican national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Anita B. Brody to time served, approximately seven months, for illegal reentry. Having completed his sentence, he will be removed from the United States again.

Mota-Garcia had previously been removed from the U.S. in November 2019, after being convicted in the Superior Court of Kent County, Delaware, of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

ICE received information that Mota-Garcia had returned to the United States and was residing in Philadelphia.

After conducting surveillance of his reported residence, ICE officers took him into custody in February of this year. Mota-Garcia was charged by indictment with illegal reentry in March and pleaded guilty in July.

Nicolos Tum Gregorio, 41, a Guatemalan national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Anita B. Brody to time served, approximately five months, for illegal reentry. Having completed his sentence, he will be removed from the United States again.

Gregorio had previously been removed from the U.S. in October 2020, following his arrest that March by the U.S. Border Patrol in Texas.

In January 2024, the defendant was arrested in Montgomery County, Pa., for driving under the influence and causing an accident involving injury, with his blood alcohol content found to be more than three times the legal limit. Gregorio was ultimately convicted of DUI in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.

ICE took Gregorio into federal custody in June of this year. He was charged by information with illegal reentry in July and pleaded guilty in August, waiving prosecution by indictment.

Carlos Manuel Torres Jimenez, aka Rafael Antonio Vasquez Rosario, 43, a Dominican national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Gail A. Weilheimer to time served, approximately three months, for illegal reentry.

Torres Jimenez had previously been removed from the U.S. in December 2001 and April 2022, after encounters with immigration authorities.

In June of this year, ICE agents and deputies of the United States Marshals Service encountered Torres Jimenez in Philadelphia, while executing a criminal arrest warrant targeting another individual. After confirming Torres Jimenez was illegally in the U.S., ICE personnel took him into custody.

The defendant was charged by information with illegal reentry in September and pleaded guilty this month, 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. 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 cases were investigated by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations and HSI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Schopf, Patrick Murray, Shayna Gannone, Ashley Martin, and Sarah Wolfe.

Note: the posting of this press release was delayed, due to the federal government shutdown from October 1, 2025, to November 12, 2025.