Guatemalan National Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Reentry

TOLEDO, Ohio – Eduardo Lopez-Jiguan, 35, a citizen of Guatemala who illegally returned to the United States after being deported was sentenced on March 18, 2025, to 13 months in federal prison for illegal reentry.  U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey J. Helmick also imposed a consecutive six-month sentence on a supervised release violation for a total prison sentence of 19 months.  Lopez-Jiguan was on supervised release after being convicted in February 2023 of illegal reentry and possession of a fraudulent identification document.

At the guilty plea, Lopez-Jiguan admitted he had previously been deported from the United States and illegally reentered the United States without the permission of the United States government. Lopez-Jiguan was previously deported in 2020 and 2023.  In August 2024, immigration officials learned Lopez-Jiguan had illegally returned to the United States and found him at the Huron County Jail after previously serving a jail sentence for falsification and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ava Rotell Dustin for the Northern District of Ohio.

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, and protect communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.