During the past six months, approximately 70 individuals who slipped into the United States without permission have been arrested in Oklahoma and charged with illegal entry or reentry to this country. Following are a few of those cases.
Wilson Vladmir Menjivar Sibrian, 28, a Salvadoran national with nine aliases, pleaded guilty in Muskogee’s Eastern District federal court on Dec. 3, 2025, to one count of unlawful reentry.
He was arrested in Oklahoma in November 2025 after having been previously deported from Texas in November 2018.
Sibrian told the court he quit school after third grade to “work in farming to help his family financially.” He said he re-entered the U.S. to work in farming and construction “to help pay” for medications for his mother and sister, both of whom are diabetic. He told his attorney he is “eager to return to El Salvador.”
Leodan Perez-Ruiz, 44, was indicted in January for being in the U.S. without authorization; he was previously deported eight times.
Ismael Barraza, 42, and Jose Eduardo Choc-Sian, were both previously deported five times.
Augustin Borja-Gaona, 56, a Mexican national who has used eight aliases, was sentenced in January to 21 months in federal prison for unlawful reentry. Borja-Gaona previously was removed from the U.S. on four occasions.
So were Alain Sanchez-Lopez, 40; Longina Ramirez Ramos, 51; and Hector Contreras Perez, 41. All four are Mexican nationals.
Henry Curiel Arias, 47, from Venezuela, is charged with possessing firearms, and transferring a machinegun conversion device to another person, while unlawfully residing in the U.S.
Oscar Armando Banegas Mendoza, 41, a Honduran national who adopted 11 aliases, was caught in Sallisaw in December. He was previously removed from the U.S. in 2010.
When stopped by ICE officers in Oklahoma City in July 2025, Jose Melgar-Rivas, 35, a native Honduran, refused commands to exit the vehicle, and as officers attempted to remove him a struggle ensued.
Melgar-Rivas placed the vehicle in drive and gunned the engine. As the vehicle accelerated, an ICE officer was caught in the vehicle’s door and was dragged down the street; he was able to free himself eventually but sustained multiple, serious injuries.
Melgar-Rivas was indicted and pleaded guilty to “assaulting, resisting, or impeding a U.S. ICE officer, resulting in bodily injury,” and was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison.