BANGOR, Maine — Two Mexican men were indicted in U.S. District Court in Bangor on Wednesday on charges of illegally re-entering the U.S. after previous deportations.
Brothers Alfredo and Isidro Gonzalez-Peleaz were arrested and detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Houlton Sector agents on Nov. 25 in Calais after a Border Patrol agent became suspicious of the men during an encounter when they were loading paving equipment in a work vehicle.
The arrests of the two men come at a time of aggressive CBP enforcement and an unprecedented number of recent arrests, according to the agency.
Border agent Matthew Crews noticed the men when he turned the corner at an unspecified location where they were working. They became “seemingly alarmed, changing their posture, stiffening up straight and looking in a different direction,” he said in a court affidavit.
“The subjects wore rugged baggy, layered clothing and had haircuts and other physical features that are indicative of migrant workers from Central America,” Crews said in his statement. “It is not uncommon to see migrant workers from Central or South America performing labor such as wreath making and roofing.”
After they loaded the work truck, Crews saw them go past him as passengers in a white Ford 250 quad cab work truck, according to court records. Crews stated that the men appeared nervous. He followed the vehicle and stopped them.
The driver was a U.S. citizen but the brothers did not have the appropriate identification. Visibly nervous and physically shaking, Alfredo Gonzalez told Crews in Spanish that they had crossed the border from Tijuana, Baja California, into California and had been working in Maine without immigration documents, the affidavit indicated.
They were taken to the Calais Border Patrol station for processing.
Border agents confirmed that Alfredo Gonzalez-Peleaz was deported on Jan. 11, 2013, at Calexico, California, and was convicted of illegal entry at the time, according to court documents.
Isidro Gonzalez-Peleaz had been deported on Nov. 3, 2006, at Brownsville, Texas, and was also previously convicted of illegal entry into the U.S., court records said.
The two men are currently being detained and their arraignments are later this month.
