Mexican National Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Reentry

HARRISBURG-The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Jorge Alberto Santamaria-Cortes, age 47, a Mexican national who was residing in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, at the time of his arrest, was sentenced today to serve six months in prison for illegal reentry by United States District Judge Karoline Mehalchick.

Santamaria-Cortes was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 22, 2025. He subsequently pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the United States.

According to United States Attorney Brian D. Miller, Santamaria-Cortes most recently illegally reentered the United States sometime after he had been deported in July 2014. Santamaria-Cortes was found again in the United States after being arrested on October 10, 2025, on unrelated state charges in Franklin County. Those charges are still pending.

Judge Mehalchick explained that she imposed a sentence at the high-end of the applicable sentencing guideline range due to Santamaria-Cortes' repeated instances of illegally reentering the United States and the three drunk driving offenses he committed while he was illegally in the country between 1998 and 2011. The judge cited the defendant's lack of respect for the law and the need to deter others from committing similar crimes, among other factors, as reasons for the sentence.

The case was investigated by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America (https://www.justice.gov/dag/media/1393746/dl?inline) 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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

Santamaria-Cortes faces deportation after serving his prison sentence.

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