A 35-year-old Mexican national, Jose Tiscareno-Rangel, has been sentenced to 14 months in federal prison for illegally reentering the United States, following a plea of guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary. According to a release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio, the sentence carries with it the stipulation that Tiscareno-Rangel will be deported to Mexico after his prison term is served.
The case against Tiscareno-Rangel came to light after his arrest at a gas station encounter with law enforcement in Toledo, where immigration officials discovered he was in the country without authorization. This wasn’t his first brush with U.S. law — he had already been removed from the United States on Sept. 10, 2018, and had a prior conviction for conspiracy to possess, with intent to distribute, heroin. The combined weight of his drug offense and his repeat unlawful entry significantly influenced the court’s decision.
Details provided by the Department of Justice indicate that Tiscareno-Rangel admitted to re-entering the U.S. without obtaining required permission from the Attorney General or the Secretary of Homeland Security. The United States Border Patrol-Sandusky Bay Station headed the investigation that culminated in his conviction…