Jail cell (Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images)
HOUSTON - A Mexican national has been sentenced to prison in the United States for reentering the country illegally.
The man was found living in Houston after reentering the U.S. for the third time, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday.
Javier Rivera sentenced
The backstory:
Javier Andres Rivera, 31, was first removed from the U.S. in 2011. Since then, he's reentered illegally three times, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas says.
Rivera has a criminal record of felonies including aggravated robbery with a firearm, possession of 50 pounds of marijuana, terroristic threats and illegal reentry.
The latest:
Rivera was discovered in the U.S. most recently in July 2025, when he was arrested on an unlawful possession of a firearm charge. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 12, 2025, to illegal reentry.
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U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison sentenced Rivera to five years in federal prison for the crime. It was noted that Rivera has already served a lengthy prison sentence and continued to re-offend in spite of it.
What's next:
Rivera is expected to face removal proceedings once his sentence is over. He will remain in custody pending his transfer to a prison facility that will be determined soon, the attorney's office said.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Texas.