EXCLUSIVE: An illegal immigrant who re-entered the U.S. five times said his drinking is the "mistake" that finally led to his arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement early Thursday morning. Ernesto Alejandro Perez-Garcia, a Mexican national, was arrested by ICE in Redondo Beach, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.
Perez-Garcia has a history of arrests dating to 2003 for alcohol-, controlled substance- and driving-related offenses, as well as making terroristic threats and illegally re-entering the U.S. ICE said he illegally entered the country five times and made four additional attempts to enter. Fox News Digital witnessed ICE arrest Perez-Garcia on Thursday.
When agents first encountered him on the Redondo Beach esplanade, he denied his identity. However, when confronted with a previous mugshot, Perez-Garcia acknowledged that he was the man they were seeking. After ICE booked and processed him, Perez-Garcia told Fox News Digital that he lied to agents "to see if I could get away with it." He said that after he was confronted with his mugshot, he realized, "I’m busted, you know, in other words, I’m f---ed." ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RELEASED UNDER BIDEN ACCUSED OF STABBING VIRGINIA MOTHER, DOUSING HER IN GASOLINE Perez-Garcia said that despite national headlines about ICE operations, he did not expect to be arrested Thursday morning.
He said he was on his usual morning walk when agents encountered him. "Once I saw the officer … with the picture of me, there was no way I was going to run," he said. "At the end of the day," he continued, "it’s the alcohol that got me back in this mess." While he said a friend’s recent death "got me caught up [in alcoholism]," he said, "It shouldn’t have, so it’s my mistake, and I’ve got to be responsible for that." Perez-Garcia first entered the U.S. at an unknown date and location.
The Torrance Police Department in California initially arrested him on April 3, 2003, for driving without a license. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 days. Over the next few years, he was also convicted of driving with a suspended license and possessing controlled substance paraphernalia.
According to ICE, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, convicted Perez-Garcia on April 10, 2006, of threatening crime with intent to terrorize. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years of probation. ICE removed him to Mexico for the first time the next month.
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