Two Illegal Aliens Plead Guilty to Unlawfully Returning to United States After Removal

Gulfport, Miss. –Mario Castellano Machado, 37, an illegal alien from Honduras, and Teodulio Ramos Ramos, 30, an illegal alien from Guatemala, recently pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden to unlawfully returning to the United States after removal, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, Special Agent in Charge Jere T. Miles of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, and Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino of the U.S. Border Patrol’s New Orleans Sector. 

Both defendants will be sentenced by Judge Ozerden on April 2, 2020.   They each face a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison followed by one year of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, as well as removal proceedings.

On November 11, 2019, a Harrison County Sheriff’s Office Interdiction Unit deputy conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle on I-10 east bound.  The deputy encountered a Honduran driver, Mario Castellanos Machado, who provided a Honduran driver’s license with a false name.  He told the agent that they were going from Texas to Georgia for work.   A Border Patrol Agent arrived at the scene and spoke with the passengers in the vehicle.  The agent recognized this as an alien smuggling event.  All vehicle occupants were transported to the Border Patrol station for processing, and Homeland Security Investigation special agents responded to the Border Patrol office to assist.  All eight occupants were found to be illegally present in the United States. 

Mario Castellano Machado and Teodulio Ramos Ramos were positively identified by computer scans of their fingerprints into a Homeland Security Database that automatically accessed their official immigration records together with fingerprint cards, photographs and prior immigration removal documents.  Both men were determined to have illegally returned to the United States after having been lawfully removed back to their home nations of Honduras and Guatemala.

U.S. Attorney Hurst praised the cooperation exhibited by the U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorney Stan Harris is the prosecutor for the case.