Two undocumented individuals arrested in Montgomery County to be deported

Two undocumented individuals from Guatemala that were “convicted of illegally reentering the United States after prior deportations” in Montgomery County were sentenced recently, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Ronal Leonardo Suarez, 44, and Guillermo Lopez-Ramirez, 34, both originally from Guatemala, were among six defendants within the state’s eastern district courts, five of whom received the illegal reentry conviction and another “convicted of making false statements in his passport applications so he could illegally reside in the U.S,” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said in a statement.

Cases were prosecuted through the U.S. Department of Justice’s deemed “Operation Take Back America,” according to the June 18 statements. Cases were investigated by U.S. Immigrations Customs Enforcement operatives and prosecuted by several U.S. attorneys.

Suarez, 44, pleaded guilty to illegal reentry. He’s slated to return to his native Guatemala, after finishing a three-month “time served” sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney.

While Suarez was initially deported in July 2003, he was arrested in March by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agents outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown “where he had an appearance on a pending criminal charge.” Court dockets revealed Suarez was charged with possession of a controlled substance by a person not registered, marijuana, a small amount for personal use, use and possession of drug paraphernalia driving without a license, driving an unregistered vehicle, and no rear lights, stemming from a May 2024 incident in Montgomery Township.

Suarez was then “charged by federal indictment with illegal reentry in April.”

U.S. District Judge John M. Gallagher sentenced Lopez-Ramirez, 34, to nearly three months “time served” for “illegal reentry, according to the statement. Lopez-Ramirez is expected to be deported after completing his sentence.

Lopez-Ramirez was deported in May 2015. U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agents learned of his July 2024 arrest by Upper Moreland Township police.

Lopez-Ramirez was charged with harassment, simple assault, aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person, according to court dockets.

Immigration enforcement officials “conduct[ed] surveillance to verify the defendant’s identity and location,” according to the June 18 statement. Lopez-Ramirez was arrested in March and charged in April.