Gulfport, Miss. – A Mexican national pled guilty to the federal crime of unlawful return of an alien deported or removed after conviction for a felony.
U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca of the Southern District of Mississippi, and Mellissa B. Harper, Acting Field Office Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in New Orleans, made the announcement
According to court documents, Ernesto Coronado-Rodriguez, 36, of Mexico, was arrested on April 12, 2022, after ICE ERO officers conducted a field fugitive operation to locate Coronado-Rodriguez near Wiggins in Stone County, Mississippi. Homeland Security fingerprint databases conclusively identified Coronado-Rodriguez as a previously removed alien who has been removed from the United States on multiple occasions and has been twice convicted of felony unlawful return after removal.
Prior to his formal removals, Coronado-Rodriguez was allowed three voluntary departures in lieu of removal, which occurred in or about 2003, 2006 and 2009. Subsequently, he unlawfully returned to the United States, and was formally ordered removed in 2012 by a U.S. Immigration Judge in Dallas, Texas. Based on this lawful removal order, Coronado-Rodriguez was physically removed from the U.S. to his home nation of Mexico on October 19, 2012. In 2013, he was arrested again by ICE Agents in Lubbock, Texas, and was prosecuted and convicted of unlawful return by an alien after removal. After completion of a 16-month prison sentence, he was physically removed again from the United States in 2014, through Brownsville, Texas. In 2018, Coronado-Rodriguez again was arrested by Border Patrol Agents near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, and prosecuted again for unlawful return by an alien after removal. He was again convicted and, following his prison sentence, removed again to Mexico in 2019, through Del Rio, Texas.
Coronado-Rodriguez is scheduled to be sentenced on October 7, 2022 at 10:00 a.m., and faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. After completing any sentence of incarceration, he also is subject to proceedings to remove him from the U.S. A U.S. District Court Judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stan Harris is the prosecutor for the case.