
Oscar Valdivia-Salas, a 35-year-old Mexican national residing in Merrillville, Indiana, has been sentenced to a 10-month prison term following a guilty plea to a felony charge of illegal reentry into the United States. The decision was handed down by United States District Court Judge Philip P. Simon, as confirmed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Indiana. In addition to his prison sentence, Valdivia-Salas faces one year of supervised release and has been ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.
Previously convicted for the same offense in the Western District of Missouri, Valdivia-Salas was removed from the country in 2018. Officials revealed that he had a prior felony conviction for illegal reentry. The current case against Valdivia-Salas was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations lending their support.
The prosecution was led by Assistant United States Attorney Emily Morgan. While Valdivia-Salas will serve his sentence for the transgression of reentry, the broader conversation on immigration policy and enforcement persists in communities like Merrillville and beyond.