Rio Grande City native Hinojosa to receive top award for federal judges

June 03, 2011 7:15 PM

Jared Taylor

McALLEN — The man stood before Chief U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa to learn his fate Friday morning.

U.S. Border Patrol agents found the Mexican national illegally crossing the border near Rio Grande City last September. He’d already been deported in February 2010 after pleading guilty to a drug smuggling conspiracy.

The Valle Hermoso, Tamps., native told Hinojosa he came back to the United States to look for work.

Hinojosa sentenced him to 30 months in federal prison for the illegal crossing — not an uncommon outcome in a common case brought before the judge each day. The judge urged the man to not come back to the U.S. after he serves the prison time and returns to Mexico, saying his sentence would stretch longer, should he attempt another illegal return.

“We have a heavy caseload, but each one of those cases is a single case, and we try to give those the same level of attention as if you had one case,â€