PHILADELPHIA, PA — A Guatemalan national who returned to the United States after two deportations was sentenced this week in Philadelphia to 12 months and one day in federal prison, after which immigration authorities plan to remove him for a third time.
U.S. District Judge Mia Roberts Perez imposed the sentence on Alvaro Morales-Ortiz, 33, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Morales-Ortiz pleaded guilty in April to illegal reentry after a federal grand jury indicted him in February.
Federal prosecutors reported that Morales-Ortiz was first removed from the country in August 2018. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested him after he failed to comply with an immigration judge’s 2017 order to leave the United States.
ICE located and arrested Morales-Ortiz in Philadelphia before his second removal in November 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The agency learned in September 2025 that Morales-Ortiz had returned and was arrested in Delaware County. He was later convicted of simple assault and harassment in Delaware County Court of Common Pleas in February.
ICE then transferred Morales-Ortiz into federal custody under a criminal complaint and warrant.
Prosecutors also reported that Philadelphia police arrested Morales-Ortiz in November 2016 and May 2019. He failed to appear in court to answer the charges in both cases, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The prosecution was part of Operation Take Back America, a Justice Department initiative addressing illegal immigration, cartels, transnational criminal organizations and violent crime.
ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella prosecuted it.
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