Mexican Man’s Fourth Removal Highlights Repeat Immigration Violator Challenge in Montana

GREAT FALLS — A Mexican national sentenced this week for illegally reentering the United States represents a stark example of the challenges federal authorities face with repeat immigration violators, marking his fourth removal since 2009 in a case that unfolded in Havre, where Border Patrol encounters have surged dramatically this year.

Leobardo Ricardo Torres-Torres, 38, was sentenced Tuesday to time served and remanded to U.S. Border Patrol custody after pleading guilty in April to illegal reentry, 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 in Great Falls Federal District Court.

Pattern of Violations Spanning 16 Years

Torres-Torres’s immigration violations span more than a decade and four separate removals from the United States, court documents show.

His first encounter with immigration authorities came in 2002 when he applied for U.S. citizenship but presented a fraudulent birth certificate. He was allowed to withdraw the application and return to Mexico.

In July 2009, Torres-Torres was found in Arizona and ordered removed after an arrest in Maricopa County for driving while intoxicated. A year later, in July 2010, Border Patrol agents again found him in Arizona. He was convicted of illegal entry, sentenced to 30 days in prison, and removed from the United States.

“He was again convicted of illegal entry, sentenced to 75 days in prison, and again removed from the United States” in August 2016 after Border Patrol agents found him in Naco, Arizona, prosecutors said.

Despite his November 2016 removal, Torres-Torres told Border Patrol agents he reentered the U.S. in November 2017 near El Paso, Texas.

Havre Encounter Highlights Interior Enforcement

Torres-Torres’s most recent encounter with law enforcement occurred March 24, 2025, when Border Patrol agents approached a vehicle in a Walmart parking lot in Havre. The vehicle was registered to a person illegally present in the United States.

When an agent asked Torres-Torres if he owned the vehicle, “he admitted he did. He said was working construction in the area, was originally from Mexico, and had no documents that permitted him to enter or remain in the United States,” according to court documents.

The Havre encounter reflects the broader immigration enforcement challenges facing Montana communities near the Canadian border. Border Patrol encounters in the Spokane and Havre Sectors jumped from 11 in December 2024 to 87 in January and February 2025, according to previous reporting.

Part of Nationwide Immigration Initiative

The case was prosecuted under Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice 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.”

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

Torres-Torres’s case represents the latest in a series of immigration-related prosecutions in Montana federal court this year, including the recent conviction of a Shelby woman for attempting to harbor illegal aliens in a multi-county case that spanned from Montana’s northern border to Helena.

Other recent federal immigration cases include a Mexican man sentenced July 7 to time served for possessing fraudulent immigration documents after living illegally in the United States for 27 years, and a Honduran man sentenced June 13 to 99 days in federal prison for his third illegal reentry.

U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme’s office has made immigration enforcement a priority, with prosecutors handling numerous cases as part of the nationwide initiative.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol, and the case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office.