Eric Armando Vega-Covarrubias, Reentry of a Removed Alien, West Virginia 2023

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Mexican national man has been charged with a serious crime in West Virginia. Eric Armando Vega-Covarrubias, 38, pled guilty to the felony offense of Reentry of a Removed Alien, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart.

According to the investigation, Vega-Covarrubias was found in South Charleston, West Virginia by members of ICE who were conducting a field operation. ICE agents identified defendant get in a car and begin to drive away. The agents stopped the car. When defendant was stopped in his vehicle, he gave ICE agents a Mexican voter card and admitted being in the United States illegally. Vega-Covarrubias was arrested and ICE agents matched his fingerprints to previous removals from the United States.

Fingerprinting matched Vega-Covarrubias to two prior removals from the United States. His previous removals were in 2012 from Atlanta, Georgia and in 2016 from Williston, North Dakota. In both cases, Vega-Covarrubias was found by immigration judges to be in the United States illegally and he was deported to Mexico.

On March 25, 2019, Vega-Covarrubias was found in South Charleston, West Virginia by members of ICE who were conducting a field operation. ICE agents identified defendant get in a car and begin to drive away. The agents stopped the car. When defendant was stopped in his vehicle, he gave ICE agents a Mexican voter card and admitted being in the United States illegally.

Vega-Covarrubias had no identification documents permitting him legal status in the United States. Fingerprinting matched Vega-Covarrubias to two prior removals from the United States. His previous removals were in 2012 from Atlanta, Georgia and in 2016 from Williston, North Dakota.

Vega-Covarrubias was sentenced to a “time served” sentence, having served nearly four months in federal custody. “Vega-Covarrubias had two prior removals from two different states,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Let’s hope he doesn’t illegally reenter our country a fourth time.” United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Erik S. Goes handled the prosecution.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdwv/pr/mexican-national-man-pleads-guilty-and-sentenced-immigration-crime-0