Earlier this month, Francisco Araujo Lara, a resident of Lawrence, pled guilty to the federal offense of illegal re-entry into the United States after being deported in September 2019. The Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that Araujo Lara, prior to his deportation, had completed an 18-30-month state sentence for a cocaine distribution conviction.
A citizen of the Dominican Republic, Araujo Lara was arrested in Lawrence in 2022 for dealing heroin and cocaine. He confessed to the crime and was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment. The crime of unauthorized re-entry can lead to up to 10 years in prison, a superlative of three years under supervision, and a fine of up to $250,000.
A 2012 report by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse from Syracuse University highlighted how immigration offenses, particularly illegal re-entry, made up a significant part of federal criminal prosecutions—23.4 percent as of July 2012.
