Mexican man pleads guilty to unlawful return to the United States

Published 10:03 am Friday, July 25, 2025

GULFPORT, MS – Pedro Aranda-Zaragoza, age 49, of Mexico pleaded guilty on July 17, to unlawful reentry into the United States by a deported or removed alien.

Aranda-Zaragoza is scheduled to be sentenced on August 26, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison.  A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Federal law also provides for Aranda-Zaragoza to face Homeland Security removal proceedings after serving any prison sentence.

On April 24, Aranda-Zaragoza was arrested as part of a Homeland Security Investigations review of employee documentation at the El Patron Mexican Grill in Vancleave.  Aranda-Zaragoza admitted to knowingly being an alien illegally present in the U.S., and to illegally returning after being lawfully removed from the United States.  A review of his prior immigration records revealed that a final order of removal had been issued against Aranda-Zaragoza in 2012. Aranda-Zaragoza was arrested by immigration officials in August 2018, and physically was removed from the United States to his home nation of Mexico that same month.  A review of immigration records also revealed that Aranda-Zaragoza had not received permission or consent to apply for readmission or to lawfully reenter the United States from either the U.S. Attorney General or from the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, Patrick A. Lemon, praised the work of Homeland Security Investigations.  Lemon and Eric P. DeLaune, Special Agent-in-Charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, Louisiana, made the announcement.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Stan Harris prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline 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 and protect  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 and Project Safe Neighborhood.