El Salvadorian sentenced to federal prison for reentering the United States following three previous removals

TYLER, Texas - An El Salvadorian man has been sentenced to federal prison for immigration violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs.

Robert Daniel Argueta-Lopez, 51, pleaded guilty to being illegally in the United States and was sentenced to 140 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker on September 12, 2024.

According to information presented in court, on July 9, 2022, local law enforcement stopped a car being driven by Argueta in Van Zandt County, Texas, and he was arrested on state charges. After being booked into the Van Zandt County Jail, federal law enforcement found Argueta in the Eastern District of Texas and determined that he was without lawful immigration status in the United States. The investigation determined that Argueta was a citizen and national of El Salvador and had previously been deported or removed from the United States on December 13, 2007, April 25, 2012, and on July 30, 2021. Argueta's first removal followed a state conviction for first-degree murder in Tarrant County, Texas in 1994. His second removal followed a federal conviction for illegal reentry after deportation in the Northern District of Texas in 2008. And his third removal followed a federal conviction for assault on a federal officer in the Southern District of Texas in 2013.

This case was investigated by DHS Immigration Customs Enforcement-Enforcement Removal Operations; Homeland Security Investigations; the Wills Point Police Department; and the Van Zandt County Sheriff's Office. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Allen Hurst.

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