Two men sentenced in PA after illegally reentering the U.S. after deportation

(WPHL) — Two men convicted of illegally reentering the United States after having been deported have been sentenced, the U.S. Department of Justice says.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 33-year-old Yovany Basurto, aka Yovany Basurt Leal from Mexico, was sentenced to serve exactly three months for illegally reentering the U.S. after having been deported.

34-year-old Cristhian Vega-Guerra from Ecuador was sentenced to serve approximately three months for illegally reentering the U.S. after having been deported.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says ICE was notified in February 2025 after Basurto was arrested and processed by the Bridgeport Borough Police Department after a DUI charge.

Basurto was arrested by ICE, indicted in March, and pleaded guilty to illegal reentry in April.

Basurto was previously arrested by ICE in October 2018 and was deported in February 2019. He then illegally reentered the US in June through Texas and was removed in July.

Officials say that after Basurto serves his sentence, he will be removed from the country again.

ICE arrested Vega-Guerra in January 2025 after they received information that he was illegally residing in Lehigh County. He pleaded guilty in April and was charged with illegal reentry.

Vega-Guerra was originally arrested in March 2024 for entering the U.S. without authorization in Texas.

He was deported from the country in August. After serving his three-month sentence, he will be removed from the country again.

“Illegal immigration strains our public services, endangers our citizens, and insults the rule of law,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “If you keep coming into this country illegally, know that we will keep prosecuting you, and the penalties will keep getting steeper.”

“Yovany Basurto and Cristhian Vega-Guerra showed complete disregard for our nation’s immigration laws by repeatedly violating them and are therefore subject to removal,” said ICE ERO Philadelphia Field Office Director Brian McShane. “These sentences send a clear message that aliens who dismiss an immigration judge’s order of removal by illegally reentering the United States after being deported are committing a criminal offense.”