ILLEGAL ALIEN PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSION OF A FIREARM

OXFORD, MS – A Nicaraguan national, unlawfully in the United States, pled guilty in front of United States District Court Judge Michael P. Mills to the illegal possession of a firearm on Thursday, August 28, 2025. Sentencing will be held at a later date and the defendant faces a statutory maximum penalty of fifteen years in prison.

According to court documents, Victor A. Hernandez, 29, was arrested following a traffic stop in Hernando, Mississippi. While on patrol, officers observed Hernadez commit several driving offenses and initiated a traffic stop. During the traffic stop, officers located a Smith and Wesson handgun, of which Hernadez claimed ownership. Officers learned that the handgun had been reported stolen from an individual in the State of Tennessee. Hernandez was arrested.

During a subsequent investigation into the defendant, agents with Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) learned that Hernandez was not a citizen of the United States and was illegally and unlawfully present in the United States.

Clay Joyner, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi said “The Second Amendment is a sacred right for American citizens. Those who are illegally in the United States are not able to enjoy that sacred right and possess firearms. The United States Attorney’s Office will vigorously prosecute those who illegally possess firearms. We thank ICE and the Hernando Police Department for their diligent work in investigating this matter.”

U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner of the Northern District of Mississippi and Scott Lewis, Acting Deputy Field Office Director for the Memphis Field Office of ICE made the announcement.

ICE and the Hernando Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Herzog Jr. is prosecuting the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) 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 Neighborhood (PSN).