A Guatemalan national who was previously deported from the United States in November 2024 has been sentenced in federal court for illegally reentering the country, according to an announcement from Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.
Rigoberto Cano Perez, 28, had been removed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a conviction in Rhode Island state court on charges of simple assault and/or battery and disorderly conduct in December 2023. On May 12, 2025, immigration officers identified Perez through an automated fingerprint match entered into the National Crime Information Center system. He had been arrested in Rhode Island a day earlier for violating a domestic no contact order and on a domestic disorderly conduct charge.
U.S. District Court Judge Melissa R. DuBose sentenced Perez to time served. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an immigration detainer against him.
Assistant United States Attorneys Taylor A. Dean and Peter I. Roklan prosecuted the case, which was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America, described as “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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).”
