An illegal migrant unlawfully re-entered the United States less than two years after he was convicted of child molestation and removed from the country.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents apprehended Jorge Mario Ecute-Gonzalez, a 57-year-old Guatemalan national, on Aug. 16 after he was sentenced for unlawful re-entry to the United States, according to a press statement from the agency. Ecute previously had legal status in the U.S. before his arrest for molesting a Missouri minor and an order by a judge to leave the country.
“Jorge Mario Ecute-Gonzalez molested a minor in Missouri before attempting to unlawfully reenter the United States after removal,” Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons stated. “He poses a significant threat to children, which we cannot tolerate.”
“ERO Boston will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from New England,” Lyons continued.
Ecute legally entered the U.S. in October 2001 in El Paso, Texas, but he was later deemed in violation of his lawful admission due to his criminal proceedings, according to ICE. The Guatemalan national was convicted of first-degree child molestation in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, on Sept 6, 2017, and sentenced to five years in prison.
A Justice Department immigration judge in Kansas City, Missouri, ordered Ecute to be deported back to his home country of Guatemala on July 7, 2020, and he was finally removed from the U.S. on Oct. 26 of that year, according to ICE.
However, Border Patrol agents arrested Ecute on Sept. 15, 2022, after he was observed illegally re-entering the U.S. near Eagle Pass, Texas, and served him with a notice to reinstate his prior deportation order, according to the agency. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas convicted the Guatemalan national in October 2023 for unlawful re-entry into the country after removal and handed down a 27-month prison sentence and three years of supervised release.
ICE’s arrest of Ecute on Aug. 16 took place at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institute in Connecticut, the agency confirmed. He now remains in ICE custody and subject to an additional removal.
More than 7 million foreign nationals have illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border during the Biden-Harris administration, according to the latest Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. Among those who have illegally crossed the border include suspected terrorists, known or suspected gang members and known sex offenders.
Deportation officers have worked to identify and remove sex offenders from the country, with agents working out of the Baltimore field office announcing the arrest of 161 noncitizen sex offenders this year, a record for their office.
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