A judge sentenced a Honduran national to five years in federal prison for illegally re-entering the U.S. after being deported eight times.
U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays sentenced Jose Salazar-Aguilar, 34, to five years and eight months behind bars without parole, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
Police first arrested Salazar-Aguilar in Kansas City, Missouri, in February 2017 for driving under the influence (DUI), resisting arrest, and failing to carry a driver’s license and insurance.
Once officers took Salazar-Aguilar into custody, a background check revealed that he was deported from the U.S. multiple times. He was released on bond, but federal agents took him into custody several days later during a routine traffic stop.
The Honduran national then pleaded guilty to unlawful re-entry into the U.S. on May 2, 2018. The last time he was removed from the U.S. was on August 8, 2013, after serving a 27-month sentence for the same offense.
Salazar-Aguilar had been deported eight times, with seven of those deportation stemming from an aggravated felony conviction of delivery of heroin.
Court documents say Salazar-Aguilar said he was a “drug mule” who associated himself with the Norteno street gang.
Many multiple-deportees have illegally re-entered the U.S. and went on to commit more crimes on American soil.
A Mexican national who was deported 20 times by federal immigration authorities allegedly raped a 65-year-old woman in July 2017, and a five-time deportee from Mexico allegedly crashed his vehicle into California woman’s car, leaving her dead at the scene, while he was drunk.