Illegal Alien Sentenced to Prison for Reentering the United States After Being Deported Six Times

An illegal alien from Honduras who returned to the United States after being deported was sentenced today to eight months in federal prison.

Fidel Antonio Cruz Cruz, age 32, a citizen of Honduras illegally present in the United States and residing in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, area received the prison term after a June 8, 2026, guilty plea to one count of illegal reentry into the United States after having been convicted of a felony offense.

At the guilty plea, Cruz Cruz admitted he had previously been deported from the United States and illegally reentered the United States without the permission of the United States government. Cruz Cruz was previously deported five times between 2017 and 2019. In 2020, Cruz Cruz was convicted of illegally reentering the United States and sentenced to 76 days in prison. He was then deported for the sixth time. Cruz Cruz returned to the United States at an unknown time. He was convicted in Johnson County, Iowa, in 2023 for an OWI offense.

On April 28, 2026, local law enforcement stopped Cruz Cruz for committing traffic violations while he was driving. ICE officers responded to the scene of the stop. They verified that Cruz Cruz had been ordered removed from the country. ICE then took him into custody.

Cruz Cruz was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams. He 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.

Cruz Cruz remains in the custody of the United States Marshal's Service.

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.

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.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.plLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

The case file number is 26-cr-38.

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