Transgender woman arrested at courthouse offered plea agreement

Irvin Gonzalez, 33, the transgender woman whose arrest at the El Paso County Courthouse made national headlines, entered a plea agreement Friday to federal charges of illegal re-entry.

ABC 7 obtained the plea agreement that states under case circumstances Gonzalez’s “time served” is sufficient, and that her removal from the United States is “presumptively mandatory.”

Since 2010, ICE officials said Gonzalez has been deported six times.

Immigration attorney Daniel Caudillo said ICE can employ “expedited removal processing” for people who have been previously deported.

“They basically reinstate the previous removal order and they execute it again,” said Caudillo. “Individuals get transferred onto a plane and get taken further into the interior of Mexico. Other individuals do get released to Mexican officials at the point of entry.”

Gonzalez has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. District Attorney spokeswoman Claudia Duran said Gonzalez also faces charges of forgery of financial instruments, in connection with stealing, cashing and depositing stolen money orders from the mail.

With pending state and federal charges, her sentences must be decided by the two jurisdictions.

“They’re actually deported from the country without completion of their criminal case,” said Caudillo. “The victim doesn’t get to receive justice in that case.”

Illegal re-entry charges range up to 10 years imprisonment, a $250,00 fine and a 3 years of supervised release.