Illegal Alien Pleads Guilty to Unlawful Reentry By an Alien After Removal

Gulfport, Miss. – Luis Alberto Preza-Mendez, 31, an illegal alien from Mexico, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden, to unlawful reentry by an alien after removal, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, and Mr. Trey Lund, Acting Field Office Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations in New Orleans.    

Preza-Mendez was found guilty of the felony offense and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Ozerden, on June 20, 2019, at 2:30 p.m.  He faces a potential maximum penalty of 2 years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. He also faces being removed from the United States following the completion of any prison sentence.

On March 12, 2019, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office notified ICE that Preza-Mendez had been arrested for a domestic disturbance and confessed to being an illegal alien from Mexico.  Preza-Mendez was arrested and transported to the Gulfport ICE Office.  He was positively identified via a fingerprint scan into the Department of Homeland Security computerized records system which accessed his prior immigration records including photographs, fingerprints and prior removal documents.  Electronic database queries confirmed that Mr. Preza-Mendez is a citizen of Mexico who had been physically removed pursuant to a lawful removal order and did not have permission to reenter the U.S. 

Preza-Mendez had been officially ordered removed from the United States on October 13, 2013.  After being physically removed based on this lawful order, he repeatedly returned to the United States, and was removed multiple times in 2014.  At the time of his most recent removal in July, 2014,  Preza-Mendez was prohibited from entering, attempting to enter, being in the United States or applying for admission to the United States for a period of twenty years. 

U.S. Attorney Hurst praised the cooperation exhibited by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration & Customs Enforcement, Enforcement Removal Operations, and the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Stan Harris is the prosecutor for this case.