Source: Office of United States Attorneys
GREAT FALLS – A Mexican man who entered the United States illegally four times since 2019 was sentenced today to a sentence of time served and remanded to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol upon release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
Odilon Valdes-De Jesus, 55, pleaded guilty in May 2025 to one count of illegal reentry.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided.
The government alleged in court documents that Valdes first entered the country without authorization in 2019. On October 3, 2019, he was encountered by El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents, processed for expeditated removal, and removed from the United States on October 4, 2019, through the Calexico, California Port of Entry. He crossed the border illegally again on October 5, 2019, and was removed from the United States a second time on October 6, 2019. He illegally entered again two days later, on October 8, 2019, and was removed for the third time on October 9.
When law enforcement encountered Valdes in Havre, Montana on May 13, 2025, he admitted he had no immigration documents to be in the United States legally, and later admitted he entered without authorization a fourth time around July 15, 2020, near Eagle Pass, Texas.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Myers prosecuted the case. The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol.
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).
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