PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that four foreign nationals convicted separately of illegally reentering the United States after prior deportations were sentenced this month.
Fernando Hernandez-Mercano , 33, a Mexican national, was sentenced by United States District Judge John F. Murphy to 18 months in prison for illegal reentry. Upon completing his prison sentence, he will be removed from the United States for the third time.
Hernandez-Mercano’s prior removals were both in April of 2012, after encounters with the U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) became aware that the defendant was again in the U.S. illegally, and, between May 2022 and August 2024, had been arrested in Pennsylvania four times for driving under the influence.
Immigration officers took him into custody in May of last year and he was charged by indictment with illegal reentry in June, pleading guilty in September.
Jose Osmon-Flores , aka Wilson Omar Santos-Paz, 32, a Honduran national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Juan R. Sánchez to 15 months in prison for illegal reentry. Upon completing his prison sentence, he will be removed from the United States again.
The defendant had previously been removed from the U.S. in April 2012, after he was encountered by the U.S. Border Patrol near Laredo, Texas.
In January 2023, ICE learned that Osmon-Flores had been arrested by the Philadelphia Police Department for the sexual abuse of his then-three-year-old daughter.
Pursuant to a guilty plea, the defendant was convicted in July 2025 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas of indecent assault on a person less than 13 years of age and unlawful contact with a minor – sexual offenses. He was sentenced to a term of 11½ to 23 months of confinement but received credit for time served and was immediately released.
Days later, on July 11, 2025, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) conducted a joint operation, surveilling a Philadelphia address where Osmon-Flores was believed to reside. After confirming the defendant’s identity, they arrested him without incident on a criminal complaint and warrant.
Osmon-Flores was charged by indictment with illegal reentry in August and pleaded guilty in October.
Leonel Hernandez-Martinez , 41, a Guatemalan national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Kai N. Scott to eight months in prison for illegal reentry. Upon completing his prison sentence, he will be removed from the United States again.
Hernandez-Martinez had previously been removed from the U.S. four times: in January 2011, after an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Washington, D.C., area; October 2016, after the U.S. Border Patrol encountered him in Arizona; January 2019, after an illegal reentry conviction in the Middle District of Pennsylvania; and in April 2021, following an illegal reentry conviction in the District of New Mexico. The defendant’s criminal history also reflects convictions in the commonwealth of Virginia, for identity theft (2008), forgery, trespass, and driving while intoxicated (2010).
Last summer, ICE learned that Hernandez-Martinez was in Lancaster County Prison. He was taken into federal custody in August, charged by indictment with illegal reentry in September, and pleaded guilty in October.
Ivan Josue Ruiz Hernandez , aka Josue Ivan, 26, a Honduran national, was sentenced by United States District Judge Timothy J. Savage to time served, approximately two and a half months, for illegal reentry. Having completed his sentence, he will be removed from the United States again.
Ruiz Hernandez had previously been removed from the U.S. in January 2014. After he was encountered by the U.S. Border Patrol in April 2018, he was charged with illegal reentry in the District of New Mexico, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 38 days’ confinement, after which he was again deported to Honduras.
ICE became aware that the defendant had entered the U.S. illegally once again and took him into custody on a criminal complaint in December of last year. He was charged by information with illegal reentry and pleaded guilty in January, waiving prosecution by indictment.
These cases are 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.
The cases were investigated by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, HSI, and the ATF and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Alisa Shver, Sara Solow, Mark Sendek, and Josh Davison.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Eastern District of Pennsylvania — U.S. Department of Justice press release.