Repeat Offenders: Three Deported Men Back Behind Bars

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Three men, already deemed undesirable enough to be expelled from the United States, are facing the consequences of defying deportation orders. United States Attorney David Metcalf announced sentences handed down this week to Wilfido Hernandez-Ordonez, Leondro Medina-Murillo, and Jillian Santiago-Cruz, all convicted of the federal crime of illegally reentering the country after prior removal.

Wilfido Hernandez-Ordonez, 40, a national of Guatemala, pleaded guilty to illegal reentry and received a time-served sentence of almost three months from United States District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr. Hernandez-Ordonez, also known as Leo Acevedo and Leo Hernandez, was originally deported in May 2009 following an order from an immigration judge. He snuck back in at an unknown date and was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while incarcerated in the Lehigh County jail this May. He will again be removed from the country after completing his sentence.

Leondro Medina-Murillo, 45, a Mexican national, fared similarly. Sentenced by United States District Judge John M. Younge to time served – nearly four months – for illegal reentry, Medina-Murillo’s rap sheet extends beyond simply violating immigration law. He was initially removed from the U.S. in September 2013 after a drug conviction in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Twice more, in April and May 2014, he was caught and deported after encounters with the U.S. Border Patrol in California. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) flagged his return in January, leading to his arrest in April and subsequent indictment in May.

Jillian Santiago-Cruz, 38, also a Mexican national, and known by multiple aliases – Julian Santiago, Julian Santigo Rodas, and Julian Santiago De La Cruz – received a time-served sentence of about three and a half months from United States District Judge Karen S. Marston last week. He was initially ordered removed from the U.S. in absentia in March 2011, and finally deported in November 2019 after a DUI conviction in Ohio. Arrested this March by the Plymouth Township Police Department on separate charges, ICE took custody of Santiago-Cruz in April and charged him with illegal reentry the same month. He pleaded guilty in June.

These cases aren’t isolated incidents, but rather part of a broader federal crackdown dubbed “Operation Take Back America.” The initiative, according to the Department of Justice, aims to “repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.” The operation leverages resources from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

The investigations were conducted by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations and HSI, with prosecution handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Schopf, J. Andrew Jenemann, and Mary E. Crawley. While these three men received relatively short sentences – time already served – the message is clear: illegally returning to the U.S. after deportation carries consequences, even if those consequences are often a temporary stay in a federal facility before another expulsion.

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