United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced today that federal prosecutors have charged 125 defendants with immigration-related offenses during the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, which concluded on March 31, 2025.
The charges stem from grand jury indictments, which accounted for over 100 cases, and criminal complaints. A significant majority, 119 of the defendants, face charges for illegally reentering the United States after prior deportation.
During the same three-month period, the U.S. Attorney’s Office also reported that 58 immigration-related cases were resolved through guilty pleas. Additionally, 62 individuals were sentenced for illegal reentry or other immigration violations.
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“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to enforcing federal immigration laws,” stated U.S. Attorney Kehoe in a press release. “We will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate and prosecute anyone who illegally enters the United States or violates our nation’s laws.”
These recent charges are part of “Operation Take Back America,” a nationwide initiative spearheaded by the Department of Justice. This operation aims to combat illegal immigration, dismantle cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and safeguard communities from violent crime. By streamlining efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the initiative seeks a comprehensive approach to these issues.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office highlighted several key cases from the second quarter:
U.S. v. Horus Samuel Marquez Villatoro: In March 2025, Mexican citizen Horus Samuel Marquez Villatoro received a sentence of three years and nine months in federal prison. His convictions were for illegal reentry by a removed alien and for the possession of a firearm and ammunition while being unlawfully present in the United States.
Court documents revealed that Marquez Villatoro had been deported from the U.S. on three prior occasions before his latest unlawful reentry sometime after 2019. In January 2024, he was apprehended in Hillsborough County in possession of a Glock 17 9mm pistol, an extended magazine, and over 100 rounds of ammunition.
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U.S. v. Ricardo Fermin Sune-Giron: Guatemalan citizen Ricardo Fermin Sune-Giron was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison in March 2025. He was convicted of conspiracy to traffic in firearms, firearms trafficking, dealing in firearms without a license, and possessing firearms as an illegal alien. Living in the U.S. under an assumed name, Sune-Giron was found to be a key member of a large-scale firearms trafficking ring operating between 2023 and April 2024.
He recruited straw purchasers to illegally acquire firearms, including Glocks, rifles, and AK-47s, from licensed dealers across Florida. These firearms were then smuggled overseas to countries such as the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Authorities estimate that Sune-Giron and his co-conspirators trafficked over 1,000 firearms during this period, with some later recovered at crime scenes.
In April 2024, coordinated search warrants in the Orlando area led to the recovery of approximately 57 firearms, 30 empty gun boxes, around $16,000 in cash, ammunition, and money counters at Sune-Giron’s residence and other locations.
U.S. v. Elmer Edin Chavarria-Morales: In March 2025, Honduran citizen Elmer Edin Chavarria-Morales was sentenced to three years and ten months in federal prison for illegal reentry into the United States after removal. Court records indicated that Chavarria-Morales had a prior felony conviction for rape in Indiana in 2018, leading to his initial deportation.
He subsequently reentered the U.S. and was convicted of illegal reentry in the Southern District of Texas in 2021, resulting in a second deportation in November 2022. In April 2024, he was found in the United States again after being arrested by the Daytona Beach Police Department for a domestic violence assault.
U.S. v. Yudelkis Portes: Dominican Republic citizen Yudelkis Portes received a sentence of three years and one month in federal prison in February 2025 for illegal reentry into the United States after removal.
Court documents showed that Portes was previously convicted of conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft in February 2013, which led to her deportation. Following her deportation, Portes illegally reentered the United States and was apprehended in the Middle District of Florida.
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