LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) — A Honduran citizen living illegally in Lewisburg was sentenced Wednesday to time served for reentering the United States after being previously deported, federal officials said.
Jorge Elpidio Erazo-Jimenez, 35, will be transferred to the administrative custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for removal proceedings.
According to court documents and statements made in court, law enforcement officers filed an ICE detainer for Erazo-Jimenez in June 2025 following his incarceration at the Southern Regional Jail on state-level criminal charges. He later pleaded guilty to domestic battery in Greenbrier County Circuit Court.
ICE agents confirmed that Erazo-Jimenez is a Honduran citizen who had been deported from the U.S. on two prior occasions: once in December 2011 after being found near Sarita, Texas, and again in December 2016 after being located near Roma, Texas.
Federal authorities stated that Erazo-Jimenez did not have identification documents permitting him legal status and had not obtained the necessary consent from the Secretary of U.S. Homeland Security to reapply for admission to the country.
Erazo-Jimenez’s criminal history also includes prior convictions for possession of methamphetamine and obstructing an officer with threats of harm, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
“Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration,” U.S. Attorney Moore Capito said in a statement.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO). Chief U.S. District Judge Frank W. Volk presided over the sentencing, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan T. Storage prosecuted the case.
The prosecution is part of a specialized unit within the U.S. Attorney’s Office focused on immigration enforcement objectives.
