CEDAR RAPIDS – A Guatemalan man caught in Iowa who was in the United States illegally after being removed twice was sentenced to 90 days in prison.
Hector Palencia-Morales, age 55, a citizen of Guatemala, received the prison term after an April 7, 2025, guilty plea to being found in the United States after illegal reentry.
On March 1, 2025, Palencia-Morales was found at a residence in Postville, Iowa, while law enforcement officers were executing a search warrant at the residence. Officers confirmed he was in the country illegally. Officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him on March 14, 2025. Palencia-Morales had previously been removed from the United States in 2013 following a conviction for illegal entry and again in 2022.
Palencia-Morales was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. Palencia-Morales was sentenced to 90 days’ imprisonment. He must also serve a one-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.