New York man who resisted deportation is sentenced to 30 months in federal prison

NEWARK, N.J. – A New York City man who was arrested for resisting efforts to deport him multiple times was sentenced today to 30 months in prison. The sentence is the result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).

Dino Rambharose, 45, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler to an indictment charging him with one count of taking actions to prevent or hamper his deportation. Judge Chesler imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to court documents, Rambharose, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, came to the United States as a lawful permanent resident in 1975. In 1997, he was convicted of criminal possession of cocaine and in May 2010, was ordered to be deported to his native country by an immigration judge with the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

On three separate occasions – Nov. 29, 2010; Feb. 15, 2011; and March 25, 2011 – Rambharose resisted being deported, including resisting attempts to take him to the airport, struggling with ERO officers and raising a commotion on the plane.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Chesler sentenced Rambharose to three years supervised release.

ERO enforces the nation's immigration laws in a fair and effective manner. It identifies and apprehends removable aliens, detains these individuals when necessary and removes illegal aliens from the United States. This unit prioritizes the apprehension, arrest and removal of convicted criminals, those who pose a threat to national security, fugitives and recent border entrants. Individuals seeking asylum also work with ERO. ERO transports removable aliens from point to point, manages aliens in custody or in an alternative to detention program, provides access to legal resources and representatives of advocacy groups, and removes individuals from the United States who have been ordered to be deported. Learn more at www.ICE.gov/ERO.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vikas Khanna and Andrew Pak prosecuted this case on behalf of the U.S. government.