A citizen of Mexico who has been removed for immigration law violations eight times pleaded guilty to a ninth federal offense Tuesday after he was arrested driving drunk without a license on Hawaii island in August.
Consepcion Padilla- Arellano, 41, aka “Jezreel Rivera,” entered a plea of guilty to a single charge of reentry of removed alien before U.S. Magistrate Judge Wes Reber Porter. He was deported Nov. 4, 2020, near Laredo, Texas.
Officials with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Padilla-Arellano’s attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Maximilian J. Mizono, did not immediately reply to Honolulu Star-Advertiser requests for comment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren W.K. Ching is prosecuting the case for the government.
“Not only did this defendant unlawfully enter the United States on at least nine occasions,” said U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors, in a statement to the Star- Advertiser. “While here, he was arrested for additional crimes including operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant. Our office, alongside our federal law enforcement counterparts, will enforce federal laws that ensure the safety of our community.”
Padilla-Arellano has been arrested for alleged violations of state and federal law in Ohio, Arizona and Texas. He is one of the more than 39,000 undocumented immigrants living in Hawaii, according to a 2020 study by the American Immigration Council.
In 2022, 33,832 Mexican citizens illegally in the U.S. were sent back to Mexico, compared with 31,761 in 2021 and 100,388 in 2020, according to ICE’s 2022 annual report.
Padilla-Arellano’s experiences with U.S. immigration laws began 15 years ago in Ohio, according to federal court records from Arizona, Ohio and Hawaii.
On Aug. 14, 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents found Padilla-Arellano in police custody in Butler County, Ohio, after he was arrested for drunken driving. The agents determined he was “a citizen and national of Mexico and had no status to be in the United States,” according to federal court records.
On Sept. 2, 2008, Padilla- Arellano was “prohibited from entering, attempting to enter, or being in the United States for a period of 10 years” and was “physically removed to Mexico via Brownsville, Texas,” as verified by an ICE agent.
On March 17, 2009, U.S. Border Patrol agents found Padilla-Arellano near Douglas, Ariz., and learned he was in the country illegally.
The next day he was “prohibited from entering, attempting to enter, or being in the United States for a period of 20 years” and sent back to to Mexico. Padilla-Arellano was arrested three more times in the next 10 days trying to get back into the country and was sent back to Mexico.
Three years later, on Sept. 2, 2012, in West Chester, Ohio, ICE agents again found Padilla-Arellano illegally in the country. He was arrested Sept. 4, 2012, for assault in Ohio before he was taken into federal custody on Nov. 14. On Feb. 12, 2013, he was scheduled to be sent back to Mexico, although no record that he was deported could be found, according to federal courts records.
In April 2019 he was arrested again by federal agents near Nogales, Ariz. He was banned from the country for 20 years and sent back to Mexico in June 2013.
Seven years later, on Oct. 30, 2020, agents found him near Laredo, and he was returned to Mexico the following month.
On Aug. 17, Padilla- Arellano was arrested by the Hawaii Police Department on suspicion of drunken driving and not having a license, registration or no-fault insurance. Those state cases are pending.
According to an affidavit by a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, on Aug. 26 a man believed to be Padilla-Arellano was seen in Hilo, walking through a parking lot.
The agent recognized Padilla-Arellano from his arrest photo nine days earlier.
On Sept. 16 he was arrested and taken to the Hilo police station. Through an interpreter, he allegedly told the HSI agent that he “is a citizen/national of Mexico and has been removed from the United States on multiple occasions.” He also allegedly said that he did “not have permission from the United States government” to reenter the country after his most recent removal in 2020.
