Feds blame Washington sanctuary policies after illegal immigrants repeatedly return to US, rack up drug, DUI charges

Two of the defendants are Honduran nationals with histories involving narcotics offenses, while the third, a Mexican national, repeatedly returned after removal and has accumulated DUI-related arrests and pending domestic violence assault charges.

Marlon Arteaga-Calix, 42, a Honduran citizen, was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison for illegally returning to the United States after removal. Federal prosecutors said Arteaga-Calix was arrested while attempting to flee authorities at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, leading officers on a foot chase across Interstate 5. He was carrying fentanyl when he was arrested.

“Fentanyl is an extremely dangerous substance and triggers a pattern that people die,” U.S. District Judge James L. Robart said at sentencing. “I need to protect the public from further crimes of this defendant because of what he does when he returns to the U.S.”

According to federal prosecutors, this is Arteaga-Calix's fourth federal prison sentence for illegally returning after removal, with previous sentences imposed in Oregon, Utah and Colorado. He has been removed from the United States six times: in 2005, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2021, but repeatedly returned. During those returns, Arteaga-Calix accumulated convictions for multiple drug offenses involving cocaine, crack cocaine and fentanyl, as well as a conviction for assaulting a health care worker. He will likely be removed from the country again after completing his latest prison sentence.

A day earlier, Dimas Alexander Mejia Garah, 35, another Honduran citizen, was sentenced to time served for illegally returning after removal. He will now return to Snohomish County custody, where prosecutors said he faces 40 months in prison in connection with drug trafficking. Mejia Garah has been removed from the United States five times, including in 2009, twice in 2012, 2014 and 2023.

Despite those removals, authorities found him in Snohomish County again in 2025 while executing a search warrant at his residence.

Mejia Garah previously had two narcotics-trafficking convictions in Utah and another drug-possession conviction in Colorado. Prosecutors said there was also an outstanding California arrest warrant when he was arrested in Snohomish County. Following his state prison sentence, he is expected to be removed to Honduras yet again.

The third defendant, Yair Ramirez Aguilar, 32, a Mexican citizen, was sentenced Wednesday to time served after repeatedly returning to the United States following removal. Ramirez Aguilar's immigration history includes a remarkable series of attempted returns. In November 2019, prosecutors said he attempted to enter the country at Douglas, Arizona, using someone else's identification.

He was convicted of illegal entry and removed. Twelve days later, he was caught attempting to enter again at Calexico, California, and removed. He was caught trying again in February 2020 and once more in March 2020, resulting in two additional removals.

Federal prosecutors said his time in the United States over the past five years has been marked by repeated encounters with law enforcement. Burien police arrested Ramirez Aguilar in 2021 for DUI and first-degree negligent driving. He was subsequently arrested in 2022 and 2023 for offenses including physical control of a vehicle under the influence, DUI, and hit-and-run of an attended vehicle. He was convicted in 2025 and has another DUI charge pending from 2026.

Ramirez Aguilar also has pending domestic violence assault charges stemming from arrests in 2024 and 2025.

“You have been repeatedly removed from the U.S., but your brief time here has been marked by repeated crimes,” US District Judge Lauren King told him while imposing the time-served sentence.

First Assistant US Attorney Charles Neil Floyd directly blamed Washington's sanctuary policies for forcing federal authorities to repeatedly intervene in cases involving defendants who otherwise could have been released back into the community. “Each of these cases take federal resources and court time because sanctuary policies in Washington prohibits cooperation with immigration enforcement,” Floyd said.

“But for our intervention, the public would never know about the immigration history of these defendants, and they would have been released back into the community, to sell drugs, drive drunk, or commit assaults just as they did before we were able to get them into custody.”