CEDAR RAPIDS – A Guatemalan man who had previously been deported following a federal conviction for unlawfully using identification documents was sentenced on September 18, 2017, to two years in federal prison.
Luis Eduardo Toj-Gomez, age 25, a citizen of Guatemala who had been living in Postville, Iowa, received the prison term after a June 2, 2017, guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry of a removed alien after a felony conviction.
At the guilty plea, Toj-Gomez admitted he illegally reentered the United States without permission after having been deported from the United States in November 2015. Prior to his deportation, Toj-Gomez was convicted in July 2015 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa on two counts of unlawful use of identification documents, felony offenses. Toj-Gomez had also been convicted of assault causing bodily injury in Allamakee County, Iowa, and operating while under the influence of alcohol in Fayette County, Iowa.
Toj-Gomez was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade. Toj-Gomez was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment. This sentence consisted of a 10-month sentence for violating the conditions of supervised release on the 2015 unlawful use of identification documents conviction and a 14-month sentence on the 2017 illegal reentry conviction. A special assessment of $100 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.
Toj-Gomez 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 and Removal Operations.
Many in Puerto Rico have lost everything with hurricane and flooding. As citizens they are free to move anywhere. I suggest we kick out illegals to provide jobs for these Americans. They already speak Spanish so can communicate with illegals still here. They will expect minimum wage or better. About time employers obeyed wage laws!
I want to thank federal officials for doing their best to protect us. Sadly state and local officials seem to have loyalties elsewhere. I used to document arrests of illegals through jail inmate lists, so I know.
I should say MOST local law enforcement is useless. Some counties do a good job. However I personally know of counties where local police won’t answer 911 calls involving illegals. Groups of illegals can gather in local restaurants without fear of police. That says a lot. It makes local law enforcement look look like emasculated wimps.