CEDAR RAPIDS – A Guatemalan man who had been deported twice, illegally returned to the United States, and then used false identification documents to obtain a job was sentenced today to eight months in federal prison.
Cesar Solovi-Valle, age 33, a citizen of Guatemala illegally present in the United States and residing in Decorah, Iowa, received the prison term after a January 28, 2019, guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of identification documents and one count of illegal reentry into the United States.
In a plea agreement, Solovi-Valle admitted he had previously been deported two times from the United States and that he illegally reentered the United States without the permission of the United States government. Solovi-Valle was deported in September 2004 following a conviction in the Southern District of Texas for illegal entry into the United States. Solovi-Valle was deported in August 2008 following convictions in June 2008 in Allamakee County, Iowa, for operating a motor vehicle under the influence (OWI), and in July 2008 in Clayton County, Iowa, for third degree criminal mischief.
Solovi-Valle also admitted he used a fraudulent Social Security card and a fraudulent permanent resident card, also known as a “green card,” when he completed an employment form using an alias name in November 2016, at a business in Waukon, Iowa. The Social Security account number on the card used by Solovi-Valle belonged to another person. The Alien Registration number on the “green card” was issued to another person. On November 30, 2016, Solovi-Valle was arrested by immigration agents at the business in Waukon where Solovi-Valle was working under the alias name.
Solovi-Valle was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Solovi-Valle was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Solovi-Valle 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 Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.