Man Who Was Deported Pleads Guilty To Re-entering The Country

MINNEAPOLIS -- A man who was deported to Mexico now faces up to 20 years in federal prison, after getting arrested in St. Cloud.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says 22-year-old Salvador Landa-Meraz has pleaded guilty to illegally re-entering the United States.  Landa-Meraz was convicted of second degree assault in Stearns County in 2007 for an incident where he beat a man with a baseball bat in Rockville.  For that offense he was sentenced to 21 months in prison and sent back to Mexico.

He was arrested in St. Cloud this past summer on suspicion of driving drunk.  He pleaded guilty to that charge yesterday (Tuesday) in Minneapolis.