Brazilian National Convicted of Illegal Reentry After Prior Deportation

A Brazilian national pleaded guilty May 15 in federal court in New Orleans to illegally reentering the United States after deportation.

The defendant, identified in the Department of Justice release, now faces sentencing on the single count of reentry of a deported alien. The case was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1326, applies to noncitizens who return to the United States after removal without permission. Convictions under this provision carry potential prison terms of up to two years for a standard first offense after deportation; penalties increase for those with prior aggravated felony convictions.

The plea resolves the criminal charge but does not alter the underlying removal order.

The operational change is immediate: the guilty plea converts the case from pretrial to post-conviction status. Sentencing will now occur on a date set by the district judge, after preparation of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office. The conviction also activates federal immigration detainers that keep the defendant in custody pending removal once any prison term ends.

Downstream, the Bureau of Prisons must designate a facility if incarceration is ordered, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement gains clear authority to execute the preexisting removal order immediately upon completion of any criminal sentence. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana will transmit the judgment to immigration authorities to update the defendant’s immigration record.

Similar convictions in the same district add to the annual caseload that determines resource allocation for border enforcement and federal defender services.

This marks the latest conviction obtained by the Justice Department under long-standing reentry statutes. The department has pursued such prosecutions in every recent administration; the Eastern District of Louisiana has recorded multiple identical guilty pleas in the past 24 months. The original removal of the defendant occurred prior to the conduct charged in this case.