Border Hopper Gets Time, Handed to Border Patrol

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BELGRADE, MT – Juan Diego Rojas-Meneses, 20, walked out of federal court having served 219 days, but his freedom won’t last long. He was handed directly to the U.S. Border Patrol following sentencing this week, the result of a guilty plea to illegally re-entering the country.

Rojas-Meneses was found during a raid on a Belgrade residence August 12, 2025. He admitted to being a Mexican citizen with no legal status. Turns out, this wasn’t his first time facing that admission.

Records show Rojas-Meneses had already been tossed out of the U.S. twice in 2024 – once on September 1st and again on September 23rd, both through El Paso, Texas. He didn’t bother getting permission to come back, which is kind of the point.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno Baucus handled the prosecution. The bust was a joint effort by the U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, Belgrade PD, and Montana’s Division of Criminal Investigations.

The DOJ is framing this as part of “Operation Take Back America,” a predictably aggressive push to clamp down on immigration and ‘eliminate’ cartels. Whether that rhetoric holds up remains to be seen.