Honduran Man Gets Three Months in Latest Havre-Area Illegal Reentry Case

GREAT FALLS — A Honduran man who illegally reentered the United States after being deported was sentenced Tuesday to three months in prison, the latest in a series of illegal reentry cases involving individuals encountered in the Havre area.

Nahun Esau Suazo-Varela, 48, pleaded guilty in June to illegal reentry after being discovered during a traffic stop in Havre in May, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided over the sentencing hearing.

The case continues a pattern Western Montana News has tracked of illegal reentry prosecutions in the Havre area. In July, Mexican national Odilon Valdes-De Jesus was sentenced to time served for his fourth illegal border crossing after being encountered in Havre. That same month, Honduran national Enys Jose Rosales-Lara, 39, was also sentenced to time served for illegal reentry.

According to court documents, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop on May 22 after identifying a vehicle registered to someone who had overstayed their legal admission to the United States. Suazo-Varela was a passenger in the vehicle and presented his Honduran passport when approached by officers.

He acknowledged having no immigration documents allowing him to legally remain in the country, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

After being transported to the Havre Border Patrol Station, Suazo-Varela admitted he had illegally crossed into the United States following his deportation near McAllen, Texas, in October 2010.

“Between 2006 and 2010, Suazo-Varela had multiple law enforcement contacts in Ohio for traffic-related offenses before being ordered removed from the United States on Sept. 30, 2010,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuted the case.

The case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative that targets illegal immigration and transnational criminal organizations. According to the Justice Department, the operation “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.”

The operation streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood programs.