A Guatemalan national was handed a 21-month prison term yesterday by a federal court in Boston for making an unlawful return to the United States. Wilson Hernandez-Bautista, 34, faced sentencing by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton after a guilty plea in June to a singular count of unlawfully reentering the country after deportation, a charge brought forward by a grand jury in December 2023, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.
Hernandez-Bautista's history with U.S. immigration authorities dates back to a deportation on Oct. 9, 2013. Nevertheless, he found his way back to the U.S. at an undisclosed time. According to details provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office, while serving a sentence for an earlier conviction of rape of a child with force in Essex County Superior Court on Nov. 23, immigration authorities discovered his unlawful status in the United States.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy, along with Todd Lyons, Field Office Director for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Boston Field Office expressed gratitude to the Massachusetts Department of Corrections for their assistance with the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian J. Sullivan of the Major Crimes Unit took the helm in the prosecution process.
Both the U.S. Attorney's Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection emphasize their commitment to enforcing immigration laws while working with local agencies to ensure that enforcement is effective and accurate.