Repeat Offenders: Three Deported Men Back Behind Bars

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Three men are facing deportation again after being sentenced this week for the federal crime of illegally re-entering the United States following previous deportations. The sentences, while amounting to ‘time served’ for each defendant, send a clear message – though critics may argue it’s a message delivered with a revolving door. U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced the outcomes, highlighting the ongoing battle against those who repeatedly skirt U.S. immigration laws.

Wilfido Hernandez-Ordonez, 40, a national of Guatemala, admitted to illegally returning after being deported in May 2009 following an immigration judge’s order. Hernandez-Ordonez, who also goes by Leo Acevedo and Leo Hernandez, spent nearly three months incarcerated before being sentenced by United States District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr. to time served. ICE apprehended him in May while he was being held at the Lehigh County jail. He will once more be removed from the country, but the question remains: for how long?

Leondro Medina-Murillo, 45, a Mexican national, has proven a particularly persistent problem for authorities. He was initially deported in September 2013 after a drug conviction in Chester County, Pennsylvania. But that wasn’t enough to keep him out. Medina-Murillo was removed twice more, in April and May 2014, after run-ins with the U.S. Border Patrol in California. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) finally caught up with him in Chester County this January, leading to his arrest in April and a subsequent indictment in May. United States District Judge John M. Younge sentenced him to roughly four months behind bars, followed by yet another removal.

The third defendant, Jillian Santiago-Cruz, 38, also a Mexican national, operates under multiple aliases – Julian Santiago, Julian Santigo Rodas, and Julian Santiago De La Cruz. An immigration judge ordered his removal in absentia back in March 2011, but he wasn’t physically deported until November 2019 after a DUI conviction in Ohio. He illegally re-entered the U.S. once more and was arrested in March of this year by the Plymouth Township Police Department on unspecified charges. ICE took custody in April, and United States District Judge Karen S. Marston sentenced him to approximately three and a half months in prison, to be followed by removal from the country.

These cases are being framed as part of Operation Take Back America, a broad initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration, dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protecting communities. The operation leverages resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). While the DOJ touts this as a victory, the repeated deportations and re-entries of these individuals raise serious questions about the effectiveness of current border security and immigration enforcement strategies.

The cases were investigated by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations and HSI, with Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Schopf, J. Andrew Jenemann, and Mary E. Crawley handling the prosecutions. Whether these sentences will truly deter future illegal re-entry remains to be seen, but for now, these three men are once again on their way out – until the cycle inevitably repeats itself.

RELATED: Repeat Offenders: 14 Deportations, Still Back in the US

RELATED: Repeat Offenders: 14 Removals, Prison Time