Illegal Re-Entrant With Prior Murder And Narcotics Convictions Sentenced To 100 Months In Prison

 

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), Ricky J. Patel, announced that JUAN CARLOS PADILLA SANTOS was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick to 100 months in prison for illegally re-entering the U.S. after having been previously deported twice and having been the subject of a third removal order.  In connection with the instant illegal re-entry offense, PADILLA SANTOS made false statements to immigration authorities and on a green card replacement form he had submitted.  

“Juan Carlos Padilla Santos was previously deported after he committed multiple serious drug offenses in the U.S.,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Like so many, Santos then deceitfully and illegally exploited our immigration system. Dangerous felons who return to this country illegally after being deported will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We thank the women and men of Homeland Security Investigations for their commitment to these matters.” 

“Juan Carlos Padilla Santos exhibited time and time again his disregard for our immigration laws needed for public safety,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel.  “With a history that includes murder, narcotics possession, and even apparently faking his own death, this defendant took repeated steps to illegally enter and re-enter the United States. Padilla Santos now faces a significant sentence for his actions.”

According to the indictment, court filings, and statements made in court:

PADILLA SANTOS was deported from the U.S. for the first time in 2010, after he was convicted of conspiring to distribute narcotics and sentenced to nearly seven and a half years in prison.  Less than a year after being deported, he re-entered the U.S. illegally and was again ordered to be removed, in absentia.  In 2016, PADILLA SANTOS was convicted of murder in the Dominican Republic and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.  Instead of serving that sentence, PADILLA SANTOS again returned to the U.S. illegally, where in 2018 he was convicted of possessing cocaine and bail jumping, and ultimately deported for a second time.  In 2019, PADILLA SANTOS appears to have falsified his death in the Dominican Republic and, in 2021, he illegally re-entered the U.S. for a third time.  In doing so, he made false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection claiming to be a valid lawful permanent resident of the U.S. and subsequently submitted a U.S. green card replacement form in which he stated under penalty of perjury that he had never previously been deported or ordered to be removed. 

In addition to his prison term, PADILLA SANTOS, 50, of the Dominican Republic, was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI New York and thanked Enforcement and Removal Operations and its Criminal Prosecutions Unit, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of Fraud Detection and National Security, and HSI Santo Domingo International Operations for their assistance.