Honduran pleads guilty to entering U.S. illegally after being deported once before

BANGOR, Maine - A Honduran national pleaded guilty on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor to illegally entering the U.S. after a prior removal.

According to court records, earlier this month, Jose Luis Matute-Duarte, 35, was outside a Brownville convenience store when he was approached by a U.S. Border Patrol agent who thought he was acting suspiciously.

Matute-Duarte told the agent he was from New Jersey and produced a New Jersey driver's license. When asked if he was in the country illegally, Matute-Duarte initially declined to answer before acknowledging that he was. Immigration records showed that he was arrested in 2015 for illegally entering the U.S. in Texas and was removed from the country. Matute-Duarte did not obtain the express consent of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to reapply for admission to the United States.

Matute-Duarte faces a maximum prison term of two years and a fine up to $250,000. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).