Honduran National Sentenced to 18 Months for Illegal Reentry

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Jose Ines Mancia-Ortiz, a citizen of Honduras previously removed from the United States, received an 18-month federal prison sentence on June 2, 2026, after pleading guilty to illegal reentry.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia announced the plea and sentence in federal district court. Mancia-Ortiz, identified in the release as an illegal alien from Honduras, admitted violating 8 U.S.C. § 1326, the statute that criminalizes reentry by a noncitizen after deportation or removal.

The case forms part of routine federal immigration enforcement. The Department of Justice release does not specify how many prior removals Mancia-Ortiz had or the exact date of his most recent illegal entry. Under federal sentencing guidelines, illegal-reentry sentences for defendants with prior criminal records or multiple removals routinely range from one to two years; the 18-month term falls within that established range.

The sentence changes Mancia-Ortiz’s status from pretrial detention or supervision to serving 18 months in Bureau of Prisons custody followed by three years of supervised release. Upon completion he faces immediate administrative removal proceedings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The prior state was freedom within the United States after unlawful reentry; the new state is incarceration beginning June 2026.

Downstream, the conviction and sentence require the Bureau of Prisons to designate a facility within 30 days and obligate ICE to prepare a detainer for seamless transfer to removal proceedings at the end of the criminal term. The case also updates Mancia-Ortiz’s immigration and criminal records, which federal authorities use to calculate future penalties should he attempt reentry again.

Federal district courts in West Virginia handle dozens of such § 1326 prosecutions annually as part of the Justice Department’s ongoing border-enforcement docket.

This sentencing follows standard application of the illegal-reentry statute first enacted in 1952 and amended in 1996 to increase penalties for repeat offenders. The Department of Justice has issued similar announcements monthly from multiple U.S. Attorney’s Offices as part of its regular immigration-crime reporting.