A federal complaint filed Oct. 19 describes a case stemming from an Oct. 18 incident at the Gordie Howe International Bridge. A vehicle entered Canada-bound lanes and began backing up, prompting U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to pull in behind it with emergency lights activated. Federal officials say passenger Pedro Raymundo Perez, 49, had been deported to Guatemala in 2019 after an Ohio conviction for sexual battery and abduction.
Officers took Perez to a secondary inspection area after the stop. The complaint says he told officers he was from Guatemala and had no immigration documents. His son also reportedly told officers that Perez had no documents authorizing him to be in the United States, according to ClickOnDetroit.
Fingerprints Trace Back to a 2011 Ohio Warrant
ClickOnDetroit reported that federal fingerprint checks linked Perez to a November 2017 arrest in Warren for driving without a license and to an outstanding warrant stemming from a 2011 Ohio arrest on felony rape and kidnapping charges. He was extradited to the Tuscarawas County Jail in New Philadelphia, Ohio, in December 2017 to face those charges.
The case was resolved in October 2018, when Perez was convicted in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court of the lesser offenses of sexual battery and abduction. He was sentenced to time served, federal officials said, after being incarcerated from Dec. 22, 2017, through Oct. 26, 2018, and was then released to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations office in Cleveland.
Removal Order and a Flight Through Louisiana
An immigration judge in Cleveland ordered Perez removed from the United States on June 10, 2019. He was sent to Guatemala on July 3, 2019, traveling via Alexandria, Louisiana, ClickOnDetroit reported. Department of Homeland Security database checks found no record that Perez received permission from the attorney general or the Homeland Security secretary to apply for admission again after that removal.
The complaint also says no record showed Perez had ever lawfully arrived in the United States or been inspected, admitted or paroled by a U.S. border official. It was filed Oct. 19, the same day CBP arrested Perez for administrative processing to reinstate his prior removal order.
National illegal-reentry cases
The U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that illegal-reentry cases increased by 7.6% in fiscal year 2023. That increase alone does not give a national case total or the share involving people previously removed, and it does not establish a trend in Detroit or explain this case.
Detained Pending Oct. 22 Hearing
Records show Perez appeared before a magistrate on Oct. 20 and remains detained. A detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday at 1 p.m. in Detroit, where his case will continue to be weighed.
