GREAT FALLS, MT – Leobardo Ricardo Torres-Torres, 38, a Mexican national with a persistent disregard for U.S. immigration law, received a time-served sentence and immediate custody by U.S. Border Patrol following a sentencing hearing yesterday. U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme announced the outcome of the case, a stark illustration of the revolving door faced by federal agents battling illegal reentry.
Torres-Torres pleaded guilty in April 2025 to the charge of illegal reentry, a federal offense. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided over the case. Court documents reveal a pattern of evasion and repeated violations of immigration laws stretching back over a decade. The man wasn’t just crossing the border; he was actively attempting to deceive authorities, even submitting a fraudulent birth certificate in a previous bid for citizenship.
The latest incident unfolded on March 24, 2025, in Havre, Montana. Border Patrol agents, investigating a vehicle registered to an individual illegally present in the United States, approached the vehicle in the Walmart parking lot. Torres-Torres admitted ownership of the vehicle and confessed to being from Mexico, lacking any legal documentation allowing him to be in the country. He claimed to be working construction in the area.
This wasn’t Torres-Torres’s first rodeo. His immigration record is riddled with removals. In November 2016, he was deported. Prior to that, in July 2009, he was removed from Arizona after a DUI arrest in Maricopa County. A year later, in July 2010, he was again apprehended by Border Patrol in Arizona, convicted of illegal entry, served 30 days, and deported. The pattern continued in August 2016, with another Arizona arrest, another conviction for illegal entry, 75 days in jail, and yet another removal. He told agents during his March arrest that he’d slipped back across the border near El Paso, Texas, in November 2017.
Prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office handled the case, while the investigation was spearheaded by dedicated Border Patrol agents. The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a sweeping nationwide initiative aiming to dismantle criminal organizations and curb illegal immigration. This operation consolidates resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) programs.
While Torres-Torres received a time-served sentence, the outcome underscores the challenges faced by law enforcement in dealing with repeat offenders. The immediate transfer to Border Patrol signifies the government’s intention to enforce immigration laws, but the question remains: how many times will Torres-Torres attempt to circumvent the system before a more substantial deterrent is applied?
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Key Facts
- State: Montana
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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