Salvadoran Man Arrested in Schenectady for Illegal Re-entry

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Efrain Diaz-Alachan, age 46, and a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested yesterday in Schenectady, New York, on a charge of illegally re-entering the United States. 

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith and Thomas E. Feeley, Director of the Buffalo Field Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

The charges in the complaint are merely accusations.  The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. 

According to the criminal complaint, Diaz-Alachan has been removed from the United States to El Salvador on five prior occasions since 2005, having been previously arrested in Vermont; Colonie, New York; Ticonderoga, New York; Houston, Texas; and Sarita, Texas. 

In 2011 and again in 2013, he was convicted of illegal re-entry in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York.  In 2011, he was sentenced to time served.  In 2013, he was sentenced to 14 months in prison.  In 2015, he was again convicted of illegal re-entry, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Diaz-Alachan appeared today before United States Magistrate Judge Daniel J. Stewart, who ordered Diaz-Alachan detained pending further proceedings.

Diaz-Alachan faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.    

This case is being investigated by ICE-ERO in Albany, with support from the ERO Buffalo Special Response Team and the Schenectady Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward P. Grogan.