Journal Gazette Times-Courier
EAST ST. LOUIS, Illnois -- A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a Mexican national to spend nearly three years behind bars as a chronic border-crosser caught driving a van crammed with other illegal immigrants.
Gabriel Ortiz-Castaneda tearfully pleaded for leniency, saying through the interpreter he was in the U.S. to make a living to support his parents and his wife's family in Mexico and would never return to the U.S. if he was allowed to go home.
But U.S. District Judge David Herndon said Ortiz-Castaneda broke similar vows to other judges and entered the U.S. illegally at least two dozen times.
He sentenced Ortiz-Castaneda to two years and nine months in prison on each of 21 felony counts, with the terms to run simultaneously. Herndon also ordered Ortiz-Castaneda to spend three years on supervised release after the prison stint, if the man is not deported.
"His history and characteristics are particularly bad," Herndon said. "Not only is he here illegally, but he is helping other people (who are) illegal, so it is particularly serious."
Posted by tyne at December 20, 2006