HUNTINGTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Two Mexican nationals living illegally in Huntington pleaded guilty and were sentenced on Monday, June 30, 2025, for immigration-related offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Jesus Eduardo Villeda-Villegas, 30, and Brigido Cayetano-Galvez, 29, each pleaded guilty to the felony offense of reentry of a removed alien.
Both men were sentenced to time served. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed immigration detainers on the individuals so they can be transferred into ICE custody for removal proceedings.
According to court documents, Villeda-Villegas was encountered by law enforcement in Huntington on April 23, 2025, and Cayetano-Galvez on April 21, 2025.
ICE agents determined that both men are citizens of Mexico who had previously been deported and had no legal documentation permitting their presence in the United States.
Villeda-Villegas was removed to Mexico on March 12, 2015, after being found in Hidalgo, Texas.
Cayetano-Galvez was removed to Mexico twice: first on September 2, 2015, after being found in Nogales, Arizona, and again on April 27, 2017, after being located in the Huntington area.
Neither man received permission from the Secretary of U.S. Homeland Security to reapply for entry into the country.
The cases were prosecuted as part of Operation Take Back America, a national initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice that focuses on eliminating illegal immigration, dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and reducing violent crime.
The operation involves coordinated efforts from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).
“Stopping illegal immigration is a top enforcement objective of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia,” said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston.
“I commend U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for their work in these cases.”
United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers presided over the hearings.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik S. Goes and Jonathan T. Storage prosecuted the cases through a special unit dedicated to immigration enforcement within the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
