SWANTON, Vt., – Previously deported Chilean citizen Victor Manuel Fuentes-Gomez, age 68, who U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested in January, was sentenced in Albany, N.Y., on Monday to serve 30 months in prison for illegally re-entering the United States.
Richard S. Hartunian, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and John C. Pfeifer, U.S. Border Patrol’s Chief Patrol Agent for the Swanton Sector announced Fuentes-Gomez’s sentencing.
“Customs and Border Protection is pleased with the conviction and sentencing of Mr. Fuentes-Gomez, and we are hopeful that this sentence sends a strong message to others that they face severe consequences for violating U.S. immigration law,” Pfeifer said. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s office to arrest and to hold accountable previously deported criminal aliens who disrespect our nation’s laws.”
Fuentes-Gomez pled guilty in May to re-entering the United States after being deported to Chile in 2015. He was also deported to Chile in 1975.
Border Patrol agents assigned to the Massena, N.Y. Station initially arrested Fuentes-Gomez, a second Chilean citizen and two Chinese nationals on January 25, 2016, after a tip from an Akwesasne resident. Investigating the tip, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police (SRMTP) officers encountered the four subjects, placed them into custody, and notified Border Patrol agents. Border Patrol agents determined that all four crossed illegally into the United States.
See Akwesasne Resident’s Tip Leads to Arrest of 4 Illegal Aliens for additional details of that January arrest.
