Guatemalan National Guilty of Transporting Illegal Aliens

BEAUMONT, Texas – A 27-year-old Guatemalan national illegally in the United States, has pleaded guilty to immigration violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown today.

                Jorge Gonzalez-Ramirez pleaded guilty to transporting illegal aliens and illegally reentering the United States.  The plea was entered today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Giblin.     

                According to information presented in court, on Feb. 12, 2019, Gonzalez-Ramirez was stopped for a traffic violation in Corrigan, Texas.  During the traffic stop, it was discovered that Gonzalez-Ramirez and his six passengers were all in the United States illegally. Among the passengers, was a seven-year-old child traveling with a purported relative, without proper safety restraints. Federal immigration agents arrived at the Corrigan Police Department and took custody of all individuals and transported them to the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas.  Their investigation determined that some of the passengers, including the minor, had traveled through Mexico from Guatemala, crossed into the United States illegally, and then illegally transported to Houston.  Gonzalez-Ramirez admitted that he picked up the illegal aliens from an apartment in Houston and was promised money for transporting them.  Gonzalez-Ramirez had previously been deported from the United States to Guatemala in March 2011, and had reentered the United States illegally.     

Under federal statutes, Gonzalez-Ramirez faces up to 10 years in federal prison at sentencing.  The maximum statutory sentence prescribed by Congress is provided here for information purposes, as the sentence will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.  A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office

                This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration, Customs Enforcement HSI/ICE, and the Corrigan Police Department, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall L. Fluke and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Tommy Coleman.