A citizen of Mexico has been sentenced to prison after illegally re-entering the United States after multiple deportations.

SCRANTON | On Aug 29, 2022, The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Mexican national Martin Perez-Amaro, age 33, was sentenced to 8 months in prison for illegally re-entering the United States after being previously deported.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Perez-Amaro was located in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, in May of 2022 after previously being deported on two separate occasions. Perez-Amaro had 

illegally re-entered the United States after being last deported in 2018. Perez-Amaro pleaded guilty to the offense and was sentenced to 8 months in prison by United States District Judge Robert D. Mariani.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffery St John prosecuted the case.

What is the penalty for Illegal Re-entry into the United States?

Re-entering the United States after being deported carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2), according to The United States Sentencing Committee. All but 2 of the 18,498 illegal re-entry offenders were sentenced at or below the ten-year statutory maximum under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1) for offenders with less serious criminal histories (i.e., those without “aggravated felony” convictions). The average sentence for illegal re-entry offenders was 18 months, according to the most recent data, which is from 2013. The average offender was deported 3.2 times before prosecution. 38.1% had been deported after a prior illegal entry or illegal re-entry conviction. 61.9% of offenders were convicted of at least one criminal offense. 4.7 percent of offenders had no prior convictions and not more than one prior deportation.