TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Jose Neftali Monge-Guevara, 38, of El Salvador, was sentenced yesterday to nearly two months in federal prison after pleading guilty to illegal reentry of a removed alien. The sentence was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Heekin said: “The criminal alien has repeatedly shown complete disregard for our nation’s immigration laws, and now he’ll spend time in federal prison before being deported for the third – and hopefully final – time. President Donald J. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi launched Operation Take Back America to repel the invasion of illegal immigration that persisted unchecked for the past several years, and my office will continue to fulfill that mission with successful prosecutions like this one.”
According to court records, Monge-Guevara was discovered to be illegally in the United States after he was encountered by the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol during a traffic stop in Wakulla County, Florida, on October 26, 2025. Law enforcement determined that Monge-Guevara was a citizen and national of El Salvador who had been previously deported or removed from the United States in 2013 and 2014. Thereafter, Monge-Guevara had not applied for nor obtained permission from the United States Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General to reenter the United States.
An ICE detainer has been lodged against Monge-Guevara, and deportation proceedings against him will commence soon.
The conviction and sentence were the result of a joint investigation by the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin M. Keen.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America 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, human and drug trafficking.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl .
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Northern District of Florida — U.S. Department of Justice press release.