http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.p ... 250&CHID=1

Easy Come, Easy Go


Immigrant Could Get 10-Year Prison Term After Fifth Illegal Entry Into U.S.
Posted 2006-05-06

By David Reynolds


A man faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to illegally entering the United States — for the fifth time.

On Thursday, Milton Joel Vasquez-Velasquez, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized re-entry after being deported, according to court documents.

He will return to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg on August 9 for sentencing.

Vasquez-Velasquez has returned after deportation four times before, according to a memorandum of investigation filed by agents with the Harrisonburg office of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

His attorney, Kerry Armentrout, says that while Vasquez-Velasquez has been deported, he hasn’t been incarcerated for past illegal re-entries.

According to the ICE memo in the court file, Vasquez-Velasquez has repeatedly wound up in the Northwest Regional Adult Detention Center in Winchester.

Since 2004, he has six convictions, including assault and battery, identity fraud and shoplifting, the memo says, citing the FBI’s criminal database as its source.

Government Memo Lists Travel

Vasquez-Velasquez’s first drew the attention of immigration authorities while incarcerated in New York in 2000, the memo says.

On April 5, 2001, he was deported. The memo does not say where he was taken, but his attorney says Vasquez-Velasquez is from Honduras.

Nine months later, U.S. Border Patrol agents caught Vasquez-Velasquez in Eagle Pass, Texas, the memo says. A month later, he was deported a second time.

In January 2005, Vasquez-Velasquez first appeared in jail in Winchester, the memo says. In March of 2005, he was deported a third time.

Six weeks later, Vasquez-Velasquez was back in the United States, back in Winchester — and back in jail, the memo says.

On July 28, he was deported for the fourth time.

Harrisonburg ICE agents returned to the Winchester jail on December 7 to again pick up Vasquez-Velasquez, the memo says.

Re-Entry A Serious Crime

Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for ICE, said prosecutors are now, more than before, seeking stiff prison sentences for those who re-enter the country after deportation.

He didn’t know the specific case and so wouldn’t say why Vasquez-Velasquez was repeatedly deported.

But the current prosecution by U.S. Attorney John Brownlee’s Office is addressing the problem, he said.

"We’ve told you to stay out and you haven’t listened to us, and now we’re going to put you in jail," Raimondi said.

He also said deportation is not a haphazard process, but that federal authorities work with foreign countries when returning illegals.

After foreign countries are informed who is coming, Raimondi said, illegals are loaded on an airplane and flown home.

An increasing number of those who return are now going to prison, he said.

"The penalty isn’t going to be a ticket home," Raimondi said. "The penalty is going to be to put you in the penitentiary for 10 years."

Re-Entry Common

Armentrout, Vasquez-Velasquez’s attorney, said multiple re-entries are not uncommon, and that he is representing another client in a similar situation.

Also, he’s not sure that prison will stop deportees from coming back. For some, he said, a cell and regular meals might be worth the risk of seeking a better life in the United States.

But the attorney said he’s not sure what circumstances have led Vasquez-Velasquez to be so persistent.

"I don’t know what life is like in Honduras," Armentrout said. "But neither does he — he hasn’t been there much in the last five years."

Contact David Reynolds at 574-6278 or reynolds@dnronline.com