A 34-year-old Mexican national, Jose Manuel Cruz-Diaz, has been sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for illegal reentry into the United States, after having been removed four times previously, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. The sentencing follows a guilty plea on March 28, with U.S. District Judge Sim Lake highlighted Cruz-Diaz's past as a drug dealer and his previous felony convictions, which include illegal reentry and evading arrest with a motor vehicle, delivering black tar heroin, and methamphetamines for which he served 10 years in state prison.
In a statement made by the Department of Justice, Cruz-Diaz, who is not a U.S. citizen, is expected to face removal proceedings after his imprisonment, having been first removed from the U.S. in 2011 and most recently in 2016, but was discovered in Houston in January 2020 upon arrest for distribution of controlled substances; this case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative aiming to combat the issue of illegal immigration and the threat of cartels and transnational crime.
Operation Take Back America, established by the Department of Justice, seeks to unite the resources of various departments, including the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood, to repel what it describes as an invasion of illegal immigration and to eliminate cartels and criminal organizations that jeopardize community safety. Cruz-Diaz' case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hileman and involved joint investigative work by Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations and the Houston Police Department. Cruz-Diaz, who remains in custody and will be transferred to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility at a later date.
