Illegal Alien from Mexico Sentenced for Unlawful Reentry

Gulfport, Miss. – Aldo German Arechiga-Gutierrez, a 45 year-old citizen of Mexico, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to 18 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for unlawful reentry by an alien who was previously deported  after a conviction for an aggravated felony, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, Jere T. Miles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, and Gregory A. Bovino, Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s New Orleans Sector.  

In 2002, Arechiga-Gutierrez was convicted in California for conspiracy to possess and sell methamphetamine.  As a drug trafficking crime, the conviction qualified as an aggravated felony.  Arechiga-Gutierrez was ordered removed from the United States to Mexico after serving his prison sentence.   He then unlawfully returned to the United States and, in 2012, was convicted in the Southern District of Mississippi for being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm.  After completing his prison sentence on that charge, Arechiga-Gutierrez was again removed from the United States to Mexico in 2014.

The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office in Gulfport received information that Arechiga-Gutierrez had returned again to the United States.  HSI research and surveillance located Arechiga-Gutierrez residing in the Picayune area and illegally employed in the southeastern Louisiana area.  Arechiga-Gutierrez was positively identified and arrested.  He later admitted to being a citizen of Mexico, and to voluntarily entering and being in the U.S. unlawfully.  Arechiga-Gutierrez pled guilty before Judge Ozerden on March 22, 2019.

U.S. Attorney Hurst commended the work of the City of Picayune Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Border Patrol.  Assistant United States Attorney Stan Harris was the prosecutor for the case.