Mexican National Previously Released Under Philadelphia’s Sanctuary City Policy Is Recaptured and Indicted for Illegal Reentry

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced that Alan Eder Torres-Gomez, 30, was charged today by Indictment with illegal reentry after deportation.

As has been previously reported publicly, Torres-Gomez was charged with state offenses in Philadelphia on September 14, 2018, and on that same day, he was charged federally by criminal complaint with illegal reentry after deportation. A United States Magistrate Judge then issued a federal warrant for his arrest. That federal arrest warrant was lodged at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia where Torres-Gomez was being held on his state charges. His state charges were dismissed on November 26, 2018, but Torres-Gomez did not appear on his federal charges because the City of Philadelphia released him from custody on November 28, 2018 without first notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the United States Marshals Service, despite the existence of the federal warrant.

As a result, Torres-Gomez has been on the loose for months, but he is now thankfully back in federal custody, no longer able to pose a threat to the community. And now he will have to answer the federal charges of illegal reentry after deportation.

The Indictment alleges that Torres-Gomez, an alien, and native and citizen of Mexico, was previously deported from the United States on or about August 11, 2009 and December 12, 2016. Following the latest of his deportations, Torres-Gomez allegedly reentered the United States illegally. If convicted of this current illegal reentry offense, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment.

“Philadelphia’s sanctuary city policy politicizes law enforcement by playing favorites in which one group of people (illegal aliens) is singled out as not having to follow the law. This creates a double-standard that is un-American, morally wrong and makes a mockery of the rule of law," said U.S. Attorney McSwain. "It also threatens public safety when, as here, the City ignores lawful federal arrest warrants and detainers. Nobody who cares about equal treatment under the law – or about public safety – can support the City’s policy. We at the U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to enforce the rule of law in a neutral, non-partisan manner, rather than playing favorites.”

The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations (“ERO”), and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy M. Stengel

An indictment, information, or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.