RAPID CITY, S.D. — A 29-year-old Mexican national has been sentenced to time served after pleading guilty to illegally reentering the United States following a prior deportation, federal officials announced Friday.
Javier Cruz-Martinez was sentenced on July 14 by U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler and ordered to be removed from the United States.
Cruz-Martinez was previously deported in 2017 and was discovered back in the U.S. in March 2025. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in April and entered a guilty plea later that month.
Illegal reentry after deportation is a felony under federal law.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Schroeder as part of Operation Take Back America.