Defendant Who Raped a Child Because of Philadelphia’s Sanctuary City Policies Is Sentenced to Prison for Illegal Reentry

PHILADELPHIA, PA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced today that Juan Ramon-Vasquez, a citizen of Honduras, was sentenced today to 21 months’ imprisonment, to be served consecutive to his state sentence, for his federal crime of illegal reentry to the United States after deportation.  The federal sentence was imposed by United States District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro.  In May 2009, Ramon-Vasquez was deported from the United States to Honduras.  In March 2014, he was found back in the United States by U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) officers.  At that time, Ramon-Vasquez was in the custody of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons.

The City of Philadelphia thereafter chose not to comply with a detainer lodged by ICE for Ramon-Vasquez, who was instead released from custody by the Philadelphia Department of Prisons.  After his release, Ramon-Vasquez proceeded to repeatedly rape a young child.  The defendant is currently serving a sentence of 8 to 20 years in state prison for the rapes.

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