On Wednesday, United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe revealed the arrest of a Honduran national, Pedro Danilo Espinoza-Guiffaro, charged with illegal reentry into the United States. Espinoza-Guiffaro, 34, faces a maximum penalty of two years in federal prison if convicted of the charges laid against him. His arrest follows a targeted enforcement operation due to an active Interpol Red Notice for his alleged involvement in a murder in Honduras.
During the operation in Duval County, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents apprehended Espinoza-Guiffaro. Agents discovered that he had been previously removed from the U.S. twice, once in 2022 and again in 2024. There appears to have not be any record of Espinoza-Guiffaro applying for or receiving authorization to re-enter the United States. According to the Justice Department's press release, "A complaint is merely a charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty."
The case against Espinoza-Guiffaro is currently being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Rachel Lasry. It falls under the larger umbrella of Operation Take Back America, an initiative launched by the Justice Department. This campaign is designed to aggressively to target illegal immigration, dismantle cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and safeguard communities from violent crime perpetrators.
HSI and FBI have pooled their resources for these efforts, incorporating structures from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). As outlined in the Justice Department's press release, "Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN)."
