EXCLUSIVE: 5-time illegal entrant admits ‘mistake’ that finally got him busted by ICE
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...
By Fox News · Fox News
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 sentence…