CEDAR RAPIDS – A Guatemalan man who unlawfully used the Social Security number of a U.S. citizen to work in a slaughterhouse was sentenced yesterday to more than two years in federal prison.
Efrain Ramos-Gutierrez, age 35, a Guatemalan citizen residing in Postville, Iowa, received the prison term after a December 28, 2015, guilty plea to one count of misuse of a Social Security Number and one count of Aggravated Identity Theft.
The evidence showed that Ramos-Gutierrez used the name and Social Security Number that he knew belonged to another to work in Postville, Iowa. In 2006, Ramos-Gutierrez was arrested in South Dakota by immigration officials, released pending further immigration hearings, and ordered to leave the United States by December 2006. Rather than leave the United States, Ramos-Gutierrez moved to Missouri in 2006, and then to Iowa in 2010 where he obtained work in Postville using the real name and Social Security Number of a U.S. Citizen. On December 11, 2014, Ramos-Gutierrez used the same name and Social Security Number to obtain insurance.
Ramos-Gutierrez was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Ramos-Gutierrez was sentenced to 25 months imprisonment. A special assessment of $200 was imposed. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Ramos-Gutierrez is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement Removal Operations.
Why is the US government even bothering with this? Deport him n be done with it. Its not rocket science here people. If they’re illegal, throw their asses out!
Here we go again. Who on this earth thinks this is right? The incarceration bill alone has to be 30k a year. Some how this crap has to stop!
Did this slaughterhouse have a history of hiring illegals, with a wink and a nod to whatever “papers” they produced? Even if this facility was on the up and up, and I am assuming they were, many aren’t. Have a system set up for immediate verification of social security numbers.
Folks will always risk coming here for some sort of work if the alternative is extreme poverty for their families. Give 2 yr imprisonment to those who knowingly hire illegals. Do a perp walk with managers of those facilities, and problem solved. If there are no jobs there will be few illegals.
Take him to the border and throw him out.
Another three-year term of supervised release for an illegal vermin after prison. What about being in the US illegally, isn’t that a chargeable crime anymore. Coming soon to an area near you.