MISSOULA – A Mexican national living in Bozeman who had illegally reentered the country was sentenced today to eight months incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said.
Antonio Alfaro-Ramirez, 41, pleaded guilty in February 2026 to one count of illegal reentry to the United States after removal.
U.S. District Judge William W. Mercer presided.
The government alleged in court documents that Ramirez, after having been removed from the country three times previously, had again illegally reentered the U.S.
During an execution of a search warrant by the Missouri River Drug Task Force at a Bozeman apartment on Dec. 23, 2025, law enforcement officers found Ramirez. Accompanying the taskforce was a Border Patrol agent, who interviewed Ramirez as part of an immigration inspection. Ramirez confirmed his identity and acknowledged he had returned to the U.S. without proper documentation.
Ramirez was twice apprehended in Laredo, Texas, for illegally crossing into the U.S., first in 2006 and again in 2009. He was then apprehended in Eagle Pass, Texas, and deported again to Mexico in March 2020. December marked his fourth arrest for illegally entering the U.S.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted the investigation.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Montana — U.S. Department of Justice press release.