Mexican Man Sentenced to Prison for Returning to the United States Following Six Previous Removals

A Mexican man who illegally returned to the United States after being deported six times previously was sentenced today to four months in federal prison.

Anastacio Zamarripa-Vidales, age 36, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States and residing in Muscatine, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 23, 2018, guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry into the United States.

At the guilty plea, Zamarripa-Vidales admitted he had previously been deported from the United States on April 11, 2012 and again on September 14, 2012.  He then illegally reentered the United States without the permission of the United States government.  Zamarripa-Vidales was also given voluntary returns to Mexico four times within one week in September 1998.  In addition, on December 19, 2005, Zamarripa-Vidales was ordered to voluntarily depart from the United States but failed to do so.  On April 1, 2018, Zamarripa-Vidales was found by immigration officers following an arrest in Benton County for driving while license under suspension and possession of a controlled substance and on an outstanding warrant from 2014 for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, second offense.  Zamarripa-Vidales was previously convicted in February 2005 in Johnson County, Iowa, of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Zamarripa-Vidales was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by Chief United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand.  Zamarripa-Vidales was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a one-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Zamarripa-Vidales is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 18-CR-39-LTS.

Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.