BATON ROUGE, LA -  United States Attorney Brandon J. Fremin announced today that JORGE LUIS OCHOA-MORALES, age 49, pled guilty to a single count indictment charging him with illegal reentry into the United States by a removed alien.

On February 11, 2018, OCHOA-MORALES was encountered in the Ascension Parish Detention Center. OCHOA-MORALES was born 1968, in Mexico and is a citizen and national of Mexico with no legal status to live, reside or work in the United States.  He has been deported or removed from the United States on three prior occasions: on June 17, 2011, from at or near Nogales, Texas; on June 24, 2010, from at or near Hidalgo, Texas; and on or about December 31, 2005, from at or near Brownsville, Texas.

            U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement matched OCHOA-MORALES’ fingerprints to previous records and positively identified him.  OCHOA-MORALES admitted that he entered the United States illegally, never having obtained the consent of the Attorney General of the United States or his successor, the Secretary for Homeland Security.

U.S. Attorney Brandon J. Fremin stated, “Our duty is to enforce our nation’s laws by protecting the border wherever we find illegal aliens.  This prosecution is one of many that my office intends to bring in support of the Attorney General’s Immigration Enforcement Policy and in fulfilment of my duty to the residents of the Middle District.  I appreciate the hard work by all those involved in this important matter.” 

This matter is being investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lyman E. Thornton III.