3/4/09 | 3 comments
Mexican man gets 100 days in jail for illegal re-entry

By Judy Harrison


BANGOR, Maine — A Mexican national was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to 100 days in jail, or time served, for being in the country illegally.

Israel Cervantes-Medina, 26, was one of five Mexican nationals taken into custody on Nov. 24 at a Houlton motel.

Cervantes-Medina was charged with re-entry after deportation. He waived indictment and pleaded guilty to the charge on Dec. 2.

He is expected to be deported again.

Cervantes-Medina was ordered removed in September 2007 by an immigration judge in El Paso, Texas, according to court documents. When he was arrested in Maine, Cervantes- Medina told agents with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that he returned to the U.S. illegally in July.

The four other Mexicans, who worked as carpet and tile layers, according to a report previously published in the Bangor Daily News, did not face criminal charges but were turned over to immigration officials for deportation. If they return to the U.S. illegally, they could be charged with re-entry after deportation as their com-panion was.

The five illegal aliens, according to court documents, were spotted on Nov. 24 by a border patrol agent who reported seeing them “loiteringâ€