A Guatemalan national, Felino Fernando Perez-Jimenez, 25, has been sentenced to seven months in federal prison for unlawfully reentering the United States after previously being removed from the country. The sentencing took place on August 6, 2025.
Court records show that Perez-Jimenez was discovered by law enforcement on January 11, 2025, when he was arrested by the Carthage Police Department in Mississippi for simple assault, resisting arrest, public intoxication, and failure to comply with an officer. The following day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) encountered him at the Leake County Jail in Carthage. Authorities determined that Perez-Jimenez is a citizen of Guatemala and did not possess valid immigration documents permitting him to be in the United States. He had previously been removed from the country in 2023.
A federal grand jury indicted Perez-Jimenez on February 4, 2025. He pleaded guilty to the charge on May 2, 2025.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Patrick A. Lemon stated: “Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi, Patrick A. Lemon; Eric P. DeLaune, Special Agent-in-Charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Brian Acuna, Acting Field Office Director of ICE/ERO in New Orleans, made the announcement.”
The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Wade Allen and Kimberly T. Purdie.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations as part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline), a nationwide initiative that uses resources from the Department of Justice to address illegal immigration and target transnational criminal organizations and violent crime through coordinated efforts with Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
