Three Illegal Aliens Plead Guilty to Unlawful Re-entry after Removal

Gulfport, Miss. – Domingo Lopez-Lopez, 25, an illegal alien from Mexico, Victor Manuel Polanco-Aguilar, 23, and Carlos Vazquez-Hernandez, 21, both illegal aliens from Guatemala, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola, Jr., to unlawful re-entry by an alien after deportation or removal, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, Thomas M. Annello, Acting Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, and Joseph A. Banco Jr., Acting Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s New Orleans Sector.

On February 6, 2018, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent conducted a traffic stop on a Toyota Highlander displaying a Georgia license plate on Interstate 10 in Harrison County. The agent encountered the driver, a citizen of Cuba and a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States.

After interviewing the passengers in the vehicle, all admitted to being citizens of other countries illegally present in the United States. All were arrested and transported to the Gulfport Border Patrol Station. Agents determined that the passengers were being transported from Houston, Texas, to Florida and Georgia, and that four passengers were aliens who had been previously deported or removed and who had unlawfully returned to the United States.

Lopez-Lopez, Polanco-Aguilar, and Vazquez-Hernandez will be sentenced by Judge Guirola on July 5, 2018. They each face a maximum penalty of two years in federal prison a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Border Patrol. Assistant United States Attorney Stan Harris is the prosecutor for the case.