U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers process incoming border crossers from Canada at the Blaine, Wash., port of entry August 29, 2022. (CBP photo by Glenn Fawcett)
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Federal prosecutors say two men who repeatedly returned to the United States after being deported continued committing crimes before immigration agents took them into federal custody, resulting in prison sentences announced this week.
The unrelated cases involve a Mexican national removed from the country six times and a Guatemalan national deported after serving a prison sentence for violent crimes. Prosecutors said both men illegally reentered the United States, faced new arrests in Washington and were later convicted of illegal reentry in federal court.
“These cases represent the work we are doing to make our community safer, despite the efforts Washington State to frustrate immigration enforcement.”
Charles Neil Floyd, First Assistant U.S. Attorney
“These cases represent the work we are doing to make our community safer, despite the efforts Washington State to frustrate immigration enforcement,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said.
One Man Returned Seven Times
For 49-year-old Miguel Rangel Jimenez, prosecutors said the pattern stretched across more than two decades.
Court records show Rangel Jimenez, who also used the name Sergio Rangel Jimenez, unlawfully returned to the United States seven times after immigration officials first removed him. Officials deported him in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2016 and 2021.
His first removal followed a 19-month Oregon prison sentence for two counts of fourth-degree felony assault and one count of unlawful use of a weapon.
The latest series of arrests began in January 2024 when Snohomish County deputies arrested Rangel Jimenez on criminal trespassing and controlled substance possession charges. State authorities later released him.
Nearly two years later, deputies arrested him again on a fourth-degree domestic violence assault charge. Prosecutors said he repeatedly struck the victim, pulled her hair and covered her mouth, leaving visible injuries.
Four days later, police arrested him once more after he allegedly punched an apartment complex employee five or six times in the face. Prosecutors said the employee worked at a property where Rangel Jimenez had previously been evicted.
Federal prosecutors filed an illegal reentry complaint in January 2026. HSI agents arrested Rangel Jimenez in March and transferred him to federal custody.
Floyd said the first case illustrates what federal prosecutors see repeatedly.
“They were encountered by local law enforcement multiple times and in each case, they were released back into the community to commit additional crimes including violent assaults.”
Second Case Followed A Similar Pattern
Prosecutors said David Ortiz Tino, 31, also returned to the United States after deportation and eventually landed back in jail on new charges.
Ortiz Tino, who also used the name Edward Avalos, is a citizen of Guatemala.
Nebraska authorities first arrested him in January 2020 on a first-degree assault charge. That case later ended with a disorderly conduct conviction.
A judge sentenced Ortiz Tino to three years in prison in 2021 after convictions for two counts of child abuse and assaulting a pregnant woman. Prosecutors said the assault caused the victim to lose consciousness.
Immigration officials removed Ortiz Tino to Guatemala in January 2023.
Prosecutors said he later returned illegally and was arrested again in Snohomish County in March 2025 on domestic violence-related charges.
Federal prosecutors filed an illegal reentry complaint in January 2026. HSI agents arrested Ortiz Tino the following month and brought him into federal custody.
Federal Authorities Sought Warrants
Floyd said federal prosecutors seek judicial arrest warrants when immigration officials learn a previously removed person has been arrested on new state charges.
“When ICE learns of a state arrest our attorneys work quickly to get judicial arrest warrants so that they will not be released to our streets yet again,” Floyd said.
Homeland Security Investigations investigated both cases.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Cáceres prosecuted the cases.
Floyd argued that greater cooperation between state and federal authorities could prevent similar cases.
“All of this could be avoided if elected officials would allow for even a minimum amount of cooperation,” he said.
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