Six months for San Francisco drug dealer, deported to Honduras, who arrived home, got girl pregnant, then returned to U.S.
The latest in a series of Honduran drug dealers given lenient sentences under federal prosecutors’ fast track scheme, who then returned to the U.S. after deportation, was sentenced – again – at San Francisco federal courthouse today to six months’ imprisonment for breaching his probation terms.
Luis Zuniga-Cruz, 28, was originally arrested in October 2023 by police who had seen him selling drugs in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood. In his bag police found 342g of fentanyl plus smaller amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. He served 29 days before being handed over to immigration officials.
His is the latest case in which illegal aliens deported after a San Francisco conviction returned to the country. It represents another embarrasment for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which has pinned its hopes of combatting the city’s drugs crisis on the deportation scheme, and which maintains that the majority of those deported have not come back or, at least, have not yet been caught if they have.
“I will say that you are very, very lucky that there was no evidence that you intended to come back here to sell drugs,” said U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. “You would be facing a much much longer sentence if there were any indication that you were involved in the drug trade still.”
Zuniga-Cruz was arrested by SFPD on October 11 2023 after being spotted selling drugs at the corner of Hyde and Ellis in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. Officers found three-quarters of a pound of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine during a subsequent search.
After serving a month in jail, Zuniga-Cruz pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, was handed a time served sentence and handed over to immigration officials. He then spent 40 days in immigration detention before being deported to Honduras from San Antonio, TX.
He next came to authorities’ attention in September 2024 when he was arrested in Arizona. After being held in custody for five months he was transferred back to San Francisco to answer charges that he violated the terms of his supervised release when he illegally reentered the U.S.
Zuniga-Cruz’ attorney put forward a complicated explanation for his client’s return, involving his meeting a woman on his return to Honduras, impregnating her and then deciding to leave the country. This time, the court was assured, he could be trusted to stay out of the U.S. because he intends to marry his partner on his arrival back in Honduras and look after his elderly parents.
“It was an act of desperation and devotion,” wrote federal public defender Karthik Raju in a sentencing memorandum, endeavoring to persuade the court to impose a six month sentence.
“Defendant was given the opportunity to cease his illegal conduct but instead chose to return to the United States in violation of the law and inviolation of the promise he implicitly made to this Court to abide by its judgment and its terms,” said assistant U.S. attorney Barbara Valliere in her memorandum. She asked the court to impose a two year sentence in order to deter the defendant and other beneficiaries of the U.S. Attorney’s fast track scheme from returning the the country.
It was reasonable to infer, she said, that Zuniga-Cruz was on his way back to San Francisco.
Today in courtroom four of San Francisco federal courthouse, Zuniga-Cruz admitted violating the terms of his supervised release – specifically by illegally reentering the United States – and was handed a six-month sentence by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria.
“I think if there were evidence that he was coming back to deal drugs, or if he had been caught dealing drugs in the Tenderloin or San Francisco it would be easy to accept your recommendation for a two year sentence,” the judge told a government attorney. “In fact, I would probably want to sentence him to something longer than that because he got a break last time.”
“I am sorry for not having done what I promised to do last time,” Zuniga-Cruz told the court through a Spanish language interpreter.
“Honduras doesn’t have an economy that would allow me to support a child or a family. My parents are also sick, they need medicine, that led me to the desperation to want to come here and work.”
Judge Chhabria told Zuniga-Cruz that he would almost certainly be deported again after serving his sentence.
Please support our work by using this Paypal link
To be notified of new stories enter your email address here or follow us on X
