April 22, 2025

Honduran National Sentenced for Illegally Reentering U S

By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media

April 22, 2024

MOBILE, Ala. — A Honduran national who had been removed from the United States in 2011 and 2016, has returned once more and has been arrested for a third time.

But this time, Tomas Rivera-Melgar, 39, has been sentenced in a federal court before being removed for a third time.

The Department of Justice said that Riviera-Melgar has been sentenced for illegally reentering the United States after he was found working in Mobile.

The U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents found Rivera-Melgar while he was working at a construction site and determined that he had previously been removed from the country.

Rivera-Melgar has prior convictions for illegal entry, driving while intoxicated and assault causing bodily injury, the release said.

He was sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release. Rivera-Melgar had been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 26, 2025.

According to the release, Rivera-Melgar will be referred to immigration officials to begin deportation proceedings. He was also ordered to pay $100 special assessment fee.

The Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tandice Blackwood prosecuted.

The case was part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that utilizes the full resources of the Department of Justice to quell the influx of illegal immigrants, eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect the country’s communities from violent crime offenders, the release said.