A man who illegally returned to the United States after being deported was sentenced today to two months in federal prison.
Marcos Espina-Cruz, age 27, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States and residing in Iowa City, Iowa, received the prison term today after a guilty plea on May 20, 2022, to one count of illegal reentry into the United States after having been deported.
At the guilty plea, Espina-Cruz admitted he had previously been deported from the United States and illegally reentered the United States without the permission of the United States government. Espina-Cruz was first deported to Mexico by immigration officials in March 2016 following a conviction in the Western District of Texas for illegal entry into the United States. He was also deported in May 2016 after being caught at the border in California and in September 2019 following his arrest on state charges in Johnson County, Iowa. On April 22, 2022, immigration officials learned Espina-Cruz had illegally returned to the United States and found Espina-Cruz at the Linn County Jail following his arrest on state charges.
Espina-Cruz was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Espina-Cruz was sentenced to 65 days’ imprisonment. He must also serve a one-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Espina-Cruz is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be turned over to immigration officials.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 22-CR-42.
Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.