Federal immigration authorities took custody Friday of an illegal immigrant suspected of being in a Venezuelan gang, after he was released from his five-month jail sentence in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Elizandro Rafael Gonzalez-Perez, 23, was convicted Wednesday in Laramie County District Court of “unauthorized use of a vehicle,” which is essentially a law against joyriding in someone else’s vehicle. It’s a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines.
Gonzalez-Perez was originally charged with felony theft on claims that he stole a silver 2005 Toyota Highlander from the Colorado Springs area from another Hispanic man.
That charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. But Gonzalez-Perez established a plea agreement Wednesday, promising to plead no-contest to the lesser charge of unauthorized use in exchange for an immediate release from jail. He had already served five months in jail while waiting for his case to be adjudicated.
The judge also ordered Gonzalez-Perez to pay $150 toward the state’s victim compensation fund, $40 for a court automation fee and $10 for a legal services fee, according to a sentencing order filed Thursday.
Crossed Illegally
Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) had plans to pick up Gonzalez-Perez when his jail term was over and issued a detainer on him earlier in the case, the agency told Cowboy State Daily earlier this month.
He’s in the nation illegally, ICE added.
“(He is) an unlawfully present citizen of Venezuela who entered the United States Oct. 7, 2022, near Paso Del Norte, Texas,” says a Dec. 11 statement from an ICE spokesman.
The U.S. Border Patrol assisted ICE after his entry and told him to report to an ICE facility near Austin, Texas.
But ICE’s operations team “encountered” Gonzalez-Perez in the Laramie County Detention Center on July 23 of this year after the man was arrested on the vehicle theft charge.
ICE agents retrieved Gonzalez-Perez from the Laramie County Detention Center at about 10 a.m. Friday morning, Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak told Cowboy State Daily moments later.
ICE confirmed the retrieval as well, in a Friday email to Cowboy State Daily.
The retrieval was in the nick of time — nearly 48 hours after the Wednesday hearing ending Gonzalez-Perez’s jail sentence. Under the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office’s current policy, its deputies will only hold noncitizen inmates for ICE for up to 48 extra hours after they’re officially released from jail.
That’s also the length of time ICE asks agencies to hold certain noncitizens past their release dates.
Suspected Gang Member
Cheyenne deputies identified Gonzalez-Perez this summer as a “suspected” member of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, which has made headlines for recent violence in nearby Aurora, Colorado.
Kozak told Cowboy State Daily in September that Gonzalez-Perez made graffiti in his jail cell that indicated he was a member of the gang. He also made admissions and has tattoos that indicated Tren de Aragua membership, the sheriff said.
Department of Homeland Security officials interviewed Gonzalez-Perez while he was in the jail. Kozak said he believes the man became part of an agency memo which The New York Post obtained, leading to a spate of national media reports indicating that Wyoming had been infiltrated by Tren de Aragua.
Kozak said he wouldn’t go so far as to say Wyoming had been infiltrated or the gang had “set up shop” in it, based on the suspected gang affiliation of one inmate.
“Definitely the gang had not infiltrated Wyoming,” said Kozak. Gonzalez-Perez “was arrested in a stolen car in Wyoming (which) had been stolen from Colorado.”
But Venezuela …
It’s unclear what ICE will do with Gonzalez-Perez next.
Venezuela is not taking deportees from the United States, The Washington Post reported earlier this month. The outlet in a February story attributed the lapse to poor relations between the two nations, potentially because of U.S.-imposed sanctions.
“Hopefully that will change after Jan. 20,” said Kozak, referencing President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration day. “If the new administration can develop some kind of relationship with Venezuela and convince that country to take their citizens back.”
Alternatively, federal prosecutors may be able to charge Gonzalez-Perez with illegal entry, a federal crime punishable by up to six months in jail on a first offense or two years on a second offense.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
