Duglas Ordonez-Cortez, 25, pleaded guilty to violating federal law against the reentry of illegal aliens.
TRENTON -- A previously-deported Guatemalan man arrested last fall and charged with illegally returning to the country has pleaded guilty to the crime in federal court.
Duglas Ordonez-Cortez, 25, pleaded guilty to violating federal law against the reentry of illegal aliens on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Trenton.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in November. He faces 20 years in federal prison and likely deportation.
Ordonez-Cortez, who has links to the Mercer County area, was arrested in September 2015 in the Trenton area, along with a Darwin Ordonez-Cortez, federal court records show.
Neither man has legal status in the United States, according to the charges, filed by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). And both have prior, felony convictions in New Jersey.
Court documents show Duglas Ordonez-Cortez pleaded guilty in 2009 to weapon possession and aggravated assault charges stemming from two separate arrests in Trenton.
2 felons again face deportation to Guatemala
He was sentenced to four years of probation in late 2009.
In November 2009, an immigration judge ordered him deported and he was returned to Guatemala that month, records show.
Duglas Ordonez-Cortez then reentered the country in an unknown location at an unknown time, authorities alleged in 2015.
The case against Darwin Ordonez-Cortez is pending in federal court.
Both men are currently in federal detention in Monmouth County.
ICE statistics show the agency conducted 235,413 immigration removals in fiscal year 2015.
Of those, 69,478 of the removals were people apprehended in the interior of the United States and 91 percent of interior removals were individuals previously convicted of a crime, the agency said.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.