Immigrant arrests mount across South MS. Action taken at trailer parks, job sites & more
A Guatemalan national arrested during an immigration enforcement check at a Pass Christian construction company is among those facing prosecution in South Mississippi in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration in the United States.
In a criminal complaint filed against Oscar Martinez-Simon, a Homeland Security Investigations agent said a background check showed that Martinez-Simon had been deported three times since July 2006 but had reentered the United States without permission or legal documents after each removal.
He was first removed from the country on July 14, 2006, then again on Aug. 20, 2010, and a third time on July 3, 2013. He now faces federal prosecution for unlawful return to the United States after removal.
Martinez-Simon is among 16 undocumented immigrants taken into custody during a Feb. 24 inspection of Gulf Coast Prestress Partners by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol agents, and officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Others taken into custody have gone to immigration court.
So far, he is the only employee of the concrete construction business facing federal prosecution.
The company’s attorney, Damian Holcomb, said Martinez-Simon and the other undocumented immigrants arrested at the business had been sent to the company by one of several third-party staffing agencies, an agency that he has since declined to identify by name.
The immigration arrests, such as those at the Pass Christian business, have significantly increased as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport millions of undocumented people from the United States. Since January, the DEA and other local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies have joined forces with ICE to investigate and arrest undocumented immigrants.
The Sun Herald has since combed through jail logs and court records and conducted interviews to identify others arrested since January on immigration violations in South Mississippi.
The arrests have included undocumented immigrants picked up at local jails, during patrols and traffic stops, and in “targeted” enforcement actions at restaurants and businesses, at trailer parks, at or near construction sites and at crime scenes.
For example, one of those arrests occurred during an immigration enforcement check at an unnamed restaurant on Pass Road in Gulfport on March 3.
In that case, an HSI agent said agents arrested Guatemalan national Roberto Roman-Cortez when he attempted to leave the business after spotting a border patrol agent in a car outside.
A subsequent records check revealed that Roman-Cortez had been previously removed from the country in May 2009 after his arrest in Nogalas, Arizona. He is now facing federal prosecution for the unlawful return to the United States by an undocumented immigrant after removal or deportation.
During his last removal order in 2009, Roman-Cortez told authorities he at first lied about his home country, erroneously identifying himself as a Mexican national because he thought it’d be easier for him to get back to the United States from there instead of his native Guatemala.
Like others now facing federal prosecution for the unlawful reentry or return to the United States by an undocumented immigrant after deportation or removal, he is facing a maximum prison sentence of up to two years and up to a $250,000 fine.
However, the majority of immigrants prosecuted on federal offenses spent little time in prison, according to immigration attorneys and court records, to fast-track their deportations.
The majority of those now facing prosecution in South Mississippi have been previously deported or removed from the United States on several occasions but then returned. Others with criminal records are facing prosecution as well.
Here’s a look at some other immigration cases pending in South Mississippi.
According to immigration attorneys, immigrants without any prior enforcement action or felony convictions usually end up in immigration courts, the nearest of which are in Louisiana. If they meet certain criteria, such as living in the United States for 10 years or more, they can apply for asylum or ask to stay in the country.
Traffic stops, trailer park enforcement & more
In a Feb. 20 “targeted” immigration enforcement operation at an unnamed trailer park in Biloxi, Border Patrol agents arrested Nelson Enrique Parada-Medina, a resident of El Salvador, in the United States without legal authority to live here.
The arrest occurred shortly after agents at the trailer park noticed a white pickup truck leave the parking lot, prompting them to follow the truck to a nearby construction site.
According to the records, an onsite records check cleared the driver of any wrongdoing, but the agents arrested a passenger in the truck, identified as Parada-Medina. During a detailed records check, Border patrol agents found that that Parada-Medina had been removed from the United States on four occasions before his latest arrest. He had already been previously prosecuted for improper entry into the United States in 2013.
According to the HSI agent handling the investigation, authorities had arrested Parada-Medina for illegal entry in the United States at different times after he was picked up in New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio and Phoenix. The arrests date back to as early as the summer of 2003. He is now jailed without bond pending prosecution on a federal charge of unlawful return to the United States by an undocumented immigrant after deportation or removal.
In another traffic stop, this time in Biloxi on Jan. 27, Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Mexican national Juana Arres-Chapol on a federal charge of unlawful entry into the United States by an undocumented person after removal or deportation.
A records check showed that she was first arrested in Laredo, Texas, in April 2014 for illegal entry into the United States. Later that month, an expedited removal order sent her back to Mexico. After her arrest, the HSI agent handling that investigation said she admitted that she and her husband, Josep Toga-Marcial, also a Mexican national, did not have permission to live in the United States. He is also awaiting prosecution for the same offense.
In another traffic stop, this time on Highway 49 in Gulfport on Feb. 12, HSI agents arrested Vincente Jiminez-Ramirez, a Guatemalan national, who had been previously arrested in March 2023 near Phoenix, Arizona, and deported the same month. He is being held on a federal charge of unlawful return of an immigrant after removal or deportation.
In another traffic stop, this time on Feb. 28 in Hancock County, HSI agents arrested Honduran national Eivan Bejaran-Varela. A records check showed he had been previously removed from the United States following a September 2012 arrest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for illegal carrying of a weapon, possession of alcoholic beverages in a vehicle, and possession of cocaine.
Authorities deported him in October 2012. He is being prosecuted for unlawful return to the United States by an undocumented immigrant after removal.
In an unrelated targeted “enforcement encounter,’ this time in Jackson County on Feb. 27, HSI agents arrested David De La Luiz-Mendez on federal charge of unlawful return or reentry into the United States by an undocumented immigrant after deportation or removal.
According to the HSI agent handling that investigation, Luiz-Mendez is a Mexican national who was first arrested near Del Rio, Texas, in February 2012, resulting in an order of deportation and removal the same month.
An attempted burglary, fraud & drunk driving
Federal agents made some of the arrests at local jails during a check for those housed at local jails on immigration holds.
On Feb. 3, Border Patrol agents took custody of Honduran national Denis Ramon Flores-Cortez at the Harrison County jail, where he was being held on a charge of credit card fraud out of Gulfport. He is now facing federal prosecution for unlawful reentry after removal or deportation. He had been previously removed from the country in 2010 after an arrest in Jackson County and once before that in 2004.
In another case on Feb. 7, ICE agents took custody of Sergio Hernandez-Masariego at the Hancock County jail after he finished serving a sentence for misdemeanor drunk driving, an ICE agent said.
A records check showed he had been previously arrested for unlawful entry into the United States after a July 7, 2018, arrest near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, and was deported in an expedited removal order afterward. Less than a month later, authorities arrested him again, this time on July 19, 2018, in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, for his unlawful return to the United States. Again, authorities sent him back to Mexico. He is now facing a new federal charge of unlawful return to the United States by an undocumented immigrant after deportation or removal.
In another case in February in Biloxi, police arrested Mexican national Carmelo Vargas-Nieto after reportedly catching him and another unnamed defendant cutting a perimeter fence at a business in an alleged attempted burglary, another HSI agent said.
According to authorities, Vagas-Nieto said he and an accomplice had gone to the business with burglar tools to steal copper wiring. At the time of his arrest, police said Vagas-Nieto also had a half gram of methamphetamine on him. In a detailed records check, authorities learned Vagas-Nieto had been deported twice after his arrests in Rosales, Arizona, in March 2007 and again in January 2009. He is facing federal prosecution for unlawful reentry into the United States by an undocumented immigrant after deportation or removal and state charges for drug possession, misdemeanor DUI and possession of burglar tools.
In addition to those arrests, other immigrants have been picked up by officers with state agencies like the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
In one case, for example, DMR officers arrested Luis Fernando Nieto-Gomez for a misdemeanor charge of fishing without a license, but he remains jailed on a hold for ICE for immigration violations.
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
