Immigrant who assaulted officers in Ithaca pleads guilty to illegally entering United States
UTICA, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The Mexican citizen accused of assaulting police officers in the Ithaca area has admitted to illegally crossing the border into the United States after previous deportations.
NewsChannel 9 was the only news organization in the federal courtroom as 25-year-old Jesus Romero-Hernadez plead guilty to the single felony count of illegal reentry.
In January, Romero-Hernadez's lengthy criminal history helped make him one target of President Donald Trump's increased immigration enforcement.
Before being accused of the federal immigration charge, Romero-Hernandez has been accused of at least nine misdemeanors, two felonies, and multiple arrest warrants
Among the charges were at least three different arrests related to family violence, along with battery and assault in Georgia in 2020.
Then, at an unknown time, he moved to Tompkins County, including living at the homeless encampment in Ithaca nicknamed 'The Jungle.'
While in Tompkins County, Romero-Hernandez was arrested at least three times. In March of 2022, federal prosecutors say he destroyed the inside of a hotel room in Lansing. In September of 2023, he was accused of putting a police officer in a 'chokehold.' Then, in November of 2023, he admitted to biting the finger of a correction officer with his jaw locking down before punching the officer.
It was the most recent assault of an officer that had Romero-Hernandez serving a sentence that expired in January, when the Tompkins County Sheriff allowed him to leave jail. The federal government has since accused the sheriff of refusing 'to honor a federal warrant.'
After he was out free, ICE then arrested Romero-Hernandez.
Romero-Hernandez will be sentenced later this year at a hearing currently scheduled for July. His guilty admission risks up to two years in prison and the high likelihood he'll be deported to Mexico again.
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