Willow Grove resident, Guatemalan national to be deported for a second time, charges dropped for Norristown woman who sparked ICE public outcry

Guillermo Lopez-Ramirez, 34, a Willow Grove resident and Guatemalan national who was arrested by the Upper Moreland Township Police Department in July 2024, will be removed from the country for a second time.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Lopez-Ramirez was sentenced last week for illegal reentry. He had had previously been removed from the U.S. in May 2015 after he was encountered and arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol for being in the country illegally.

In July 2024, ICE received electronic notification that Lopez-Ramirez had been arrested by Upper Moreland police. After conducting surveillance to verify his identity and location, ICE arrested Lopez-Ramirez in March of this year, and he was charged by information in April.

According to a report by Upper Moreland police, he was accused of attempting to injure another person with a knife during an altercation at 3:50am on July 21, 2024 on Easton Road. His charges include Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Harassment, Simple Assault, and Recklessly Endangering Another Person.

Lopez-Ramirez is one of five foreign nationals named in the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s statement to be sentenced for illegal reentry. Among them was Ronal Leonardo Suarez, 44, also a Guatemalan national who was arrested in May 2024 in Montgomery Township.

According to The Reporter, he was charged with possession of a controlled substance by a person not registered, marijuana, a small amount for personal use, use and possession of drug paraphernalia driving without a license, driving an unregistered vehicle, and no rear lights.

Suarez pleaded guilty to illegal reentry after being deported from the U.S. in July 2003. In March of this year, ICE arrested Suarez outside the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in Norristown.

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s statement:

These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

The cases were investigated by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations and are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lizmar Bosques, Rosalynda M. Michetti, Robert Schopf, Rebecca J. Kulik, and Robert J. Livermore.

In related news, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that criminal charges against Andrea Lozano-Alanis, 31, of Norristown, have been dismissed.

Lozano-Alanis was arrested earlier this month in East Norriton on charges of child endangerment, recklessly endangering another person, careless and reckless driving, and driving without a license. The charges followed an incident where she is alleged to have rammed her car into the vehicle of a former “romantic partner” in the parking lot of a Truist Bank at the intersection of Johnson Highway and DeKalb Pike. Her child was in her car during the incident.

She was taken to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, at which point federal authorities arrested her and took her into ICE custody.

Following public outcry, county officials dropped their policy of jailing immigrants wanted by ICE for up to four hours after their bail had been paid.

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