A Dallas man with a long criminal history has been ordered to spend the next decade in federal prison after admitting he illegally re-entered the United States following a 2020 deportation. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown on Tuesday handed 36-year-old Ivan Hernandez-Ortiz a 120‑month sentence for illegal reentry, after prosecutors argued his record and repeated trips back into the country warranted the stiffest penalty available.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Hernandez-Ortiz was indicted in March 2023 and ultimately pleaded guilty in October 2025. The office states he was last deported in 2020 and that evidence presented at sentencing showed he had illegally entered the United States about five times, with three voluntary returns and two formal removals. Prosecutors told the court they were seeking the maximum sentence allowed by statute, which in his case topped out at 10 years.
Court records discussed at sentencing, as reported by KTEN, show Hernandez-Ortiz has six felony convictions, including drug trafficking, firearm theft and sexual abuse of a child. KTEN reports that a 15-year-old girl identified during a Dallas traffic stop was the victim in that earlier sexual-abuse case, and that she was pregnant with Hernandez-Ortiz’s child. Prosecutors leaned on those prior convictions and his pattern of returning after removal when they urged Judge Brown to impose a tougher sentence.
Investigation and prosecution
Immigration and Customs Enforcement handled the investigation that led to the latest case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Marbel Leonel Muñoz prosecuted Hernandez-Ortiz in federal court. The office notes Hernandez-Ortiz had already been federally prosecuted for illegal reentry once before, in the Southern District of Texas in 2015, where he received a 70‑month sentence in that earlier matter. The Northern District press release also includes a media contact for anyone seeking additional information about the case.
Federal penalties and context
Under federal law, illegal reentry typically carries a maximum of up to two years in prison. That ceiling increases to 10 years if the person was previously removed after a felony conviction, and to 20 years if the prior offense was an aggravated felony. Those penalty ranges are spelled out in 8 U.S.C. § 1326, which judges and prosecutors rely on when weighing enhanced sentences. In Hernandez-Ortiz’s case, prosecutors argued that his criminal history and repeated reentries supported using the higher 10-year maximum…