CEDAR RAPIDS – A Mexican alien used a fake Social Security card in order to work illegally at three Iowa businesses (why aren’t the business owners charged?) and now must reside in prison.
A man who used a false identification document bearing someone else’s social security number was sentenced today to more than three months in federal prison.
Diego Nava-Barrios (pictured at top), age 37, a citizen of Mexico illegally present in the United States and residing in Cascade, Iowa, received the prison term after a December 1, 2023, guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of an identification document.
In a plea agreement, Nava-Barrios admitted he knowingly used a fraudulent Social Security card to prove his authorization to work in the United States when he completed employment and tax forms in March 2016 at a business in Anamosa, Iowa, in September 2016 at a business in Cascade, Iowa, and in December 2016 at a business in Farley, Iowa. Illegal aliens are not authorized to work in the United States. The number on the Social Security card was a real Social Security number assigned to a United States citizen.
Nava-Barrios was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Nava-Barrios was sentenced to 99 days’ imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Sosa-Jimenez is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be turned over to immigration officials.
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.
