Robert Daniel Argueta-Lopez, 51, has been sentenced to 140 months in federal prison for immigration violations in the Eastern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs announced. The sentencing took place on September 12, 2024, before U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker.
Argueta-Lopez pleaded guilty to being illegally present in the United States. According to court information, on July 9, 2022, local law enforcement stopped a vehicle driven by Argueta in Van Zandt County, Texas. Following his arrest on state charges, Argueta was booked into the Van Zandt County Jail. Federal law enforcement later determined he was without lawful immigration status in the United States.
Argueta, a citizen and national of El Salvador, had been deported or removed from the U.S. on three previous occasions: December 13, 2007; April 25, 2012; and July 30, 2021. His initial removal followed a state conviction for first-degree murder in Tarrant County, Texas, in 1994. His second removal followed a federal conviction for illegal reentry after deportation in the Northern District of Texas in 2008. His third removal followed a federal conviction for assault on a federal officer in the Southern District of Texas in 2013.
The case was investigated by DHS Immigration Customs Enforcement-Enforcement Removal Operations; Homeland Security Investigations; the Wills Point Police Department; and the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Allen Hurst.