5-time deported felon from Mexico sentenced to maximum 10 years in federal prison for illegally reentering US
DALLAS — A five-time deported illegal alien from Mexico with an extensive criminal history was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison for illegally reentering the United States after being deported.
This sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox, Northern District of Texas. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations, Violent Criminal Alien Section, and ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Antonio Serrano-Perez, 39, of Tamaulipas, Mexico, was sentenced Oct. 18 before Senior U.S. District Judge John H. McBryde, who imposed the statutory maximum sentence based in part on the defendant’s lengthy criminal history.
Serrano-Perez pleaded guilty in May 2019 to illegal re-entry after being deported at least five times, the judge noted, adding that after every removal, he came back into the United States illegally, only to commit crimes including cocaine trafficking and family violence.
“This felon and narcotics trafficker has been deported to Mexico five times and has repeatedly demonstrated that he has no respect for U.S. laws,” said Marc J. Moore, field office director of the ICE Dallas office. “Throughout his extensive criminal career, he has operated as though the United States is simply a profitable location for him to traffic in illegal drugs. After he fully completes his latest federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the United States, our ICE officers will deport him a sixth time.”
Serrano-Perez was first removed to Mexico in October 1998, then he illegally re-entered the United States at least five times over a 20-year period. During that time, the judge observed, Serrano-Perez racked up numerous state drug and violent crime convictions, and three federal immigration convictions.
Following his illegal re-entry in 2006, at age 25, he was convicted of a federal immigration offense in the Southern District of Texas, sentenced to 27 months in prison; he was then removed to Mexico in 2014. At some point after that removal, he returned to Fort Worth, Texas, where he was apprehended March 11, 2019, outside his residence by immigration authorities.
After serving his 10-year sentence, Serrano-Perez will once again face deportation proceedings.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Levi Thomas, Northern District of Texas, is prosecuting this case.
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