A Guatemalan national living in West Springfield, Massachusetts, has been sentenced for possessing a forged immigration document and illegally reentering the United States after being deported. According to federal court records, Jose Martinez-Lopez, also known as “Amalio Mendez-Molina,” 33, received a sentence of time served—163 days in prison—from U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni. Martinez-Lopez is now subject to deportation.
Martinez-Lopez pleaded guilty in June 2025 to one count each of possession of a forged immigration document and unlawful reentry of a deported alien. He was arrested in March 2025.
Court documents show that Martinez-Lopez had previously been removed from the United States to Guatemala on August 28, 2009, after entering the country illegally on an unknown date. After his removal, he unlawfully reentered the country and was deported again on May 10, 2011. He then entered the United States illegally for a third time and was found guilty in Phoenix, Arizona of human smuggling conspiracy on August 8, 2011. He received a one-year probationary sentence before being removed from the country again on August 23, 2011.
After this removal, Martinez-Lopez returned to the United States illegally for a fourth time. On November 25, 2022 and June 17, 2023, he was arrested twice in Cook County, Illinois for domestic battery/bodily harm. Immigration authorities filed detainers both times; however, he was released from state custody before removal actions could be carried out.
On March 10, 2025, Martinez-Lopez was arrested in West Springfield for assault and battery on a police officer. This arrest led to his apprehension by immigration authorities. At that time he possessed a forged permanent resident card under the name “Amalio Mendez-Molina.” The following day he admitted to immigration officials that he was unlawfully present in the country and had reentered illegally in 2021.
“United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Patricia H. Hyde, Acting Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston made the announcement.”
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of the Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case.”
