Previously Removed Alien Sentenced For Illegal Re-Entry

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Willy Rodriguez, 32, of Boston, Massachusetts, was sentenced today to a term of “time served,” (7 ½ months) in prison by Senior United States District Court Judge Frederick J. Scullin, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Thomas P. Brophy, Acting Field Office Director, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement Removal Operations (ICE/ERO), Buffalo Field Office. In December 2016, Rodriguez pled guilty to a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which prohibits previously removed aliens from entering, attempting to enter, or being found in the United States without prior application and consent of the Department of Homeland Security. Rodriguez will now be eligible for removal proceedings from the United States.

Rodrigueaz was prosecuted after he was encountered by City of Amsterdam Police and ICE officers in Amsterdam, New York on August 23, 2016. ICE determined that Rodriguez was an alien unlawfully present in the United States and arrested him. A check of Rodriguez’s fingerprints by ICE indicated that he had been deported and removed from the United States to the Dominican Republic in 2011. Rodriguez was removed to his native Dominican Republic in 2011 after he was convicted in Providence, Rhode Island of a drug trafficking offense.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Homeland Security, ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations (ERO), with the assistance of the Amsterdam NY Police Department, and prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Edward P. Grogan.