Mexican man sentenced for reentering country illegally
Defendant had been arrested in Belgrade
A 20-year-old Mexican man who entered America after being previously removed was sentenced on March 18 to time served, 219 days, and remanded to the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol.
The man, Juan Diego Rojas-Meneses, had pleaded guilty in November 2025 to one count of reentry of a removed alien, according to a March 18 press release from the office of acting U.S. Attorney Tim Racicot.
The charge is based on an investigation in which law enforcement executed a search warrant at a Belgrade home on Aug. 12, 2025. Rojas-Meneses was interviewed at the scene “and admitted being a citizen of Mexico without the necessary documentation to be in the United States,” according to the press release.
Rojas-Meneses had been last was removed from the United States on Sept. 1, 2024, and Sept. 23, 2024, through El Paso, Texas.
“There is no record that he obtained the consent of the Attorney General or the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to reapply for admission into the United States,” read the release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno Baucus prosecuted the case, and the investigation was conducted by the U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, Belgrade Police Department, and Montana Division of Criminal Investigations. Sentencing was carried out by U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen.
The case is part of Operation Take Back America. According to the release, the operation is “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.”
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