Tomas Alonso Valencia-Ruiz
Introduction
Tomas Alonso Valencia-Ruiz, 29, a citizen of El Salvador, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty on October 1, 2026 in Bridgeport federal court to unlawful reentry of a removed alien. The plea, announced by United States Attorney David X. Sullivan for the District of Connecticut, capped a twelve-year immigration and criminal arc that runs from a 2014 Border Patrol encounter in Texas through a 2019 removal to a 2025 Stamford arrest on charges including risk of injury to a child and carrying a dangerous weapon — the arrest that ultimately put Valencia-Ruiz in front of federal immigration prosecutors. He has been detained since his federal arrest on September 21, 2026, and faces a maximum term of 10 years at a sentencing that has not been scheduled.
Background Information
According to court documents and statements made in court, U.S. Border Patrol encountered Valencia-Ruiz in November 2014 in Rio Grande, Texas, after he illegally entered the United States, and released him while his immigration case was pending. His Connecticut record begins soon after: on October 12, 2016, Greenwich Police arrested him on a charge of assault in the third degree. In January 2017, the U.S. Immigration Court in New York ordered him removed to El Salvador in absentia after he failed to appear for the hearing. He stayed: on November 22, 2018, Darien Police arrested him on a charge of illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle. On May 31, 2019, he was convicted and sentenced in Stamford Superior Court for both the Greenwich and Darien offenses and was transferred to ICE custody, which removed him to El Salvador on June 26, 2019.
Valencia-Ruiz illegally reentered the United States after that removal. The reentry years ended on August 15, 2025, when Stamford Police arrested him on charges of risk of injury to a child, carrying a dangerous weapon, threatening in the second degree, criminal mischief in the second degree, and disorderly conduct — a five-charge arrest that surfaced his status and started the federal clock. He was arrested federally on September 21, 2026, and has been detained since.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Pleaded guilty. Valencia-Ruiz pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry of a removed alien on October 1, 2026 and awaits sentencing. The account below reflects court documents and statements made in court.
The federal case is the reentry itself — the 2019 removal followed by an illegal return — but its weight comes from the record that traveled with him: a 2016 assault arrest in Greenwich, a weapons charge in Darien, a 2019 conviction and sentence in Stamford Superior Court for both, and then the August 2025 Stamford arrest charging risk of injury to a child and carrying a dangerous weapon among the five counts. Each layer is an aggravator under the reentry statute, which scales the maximum term to the removed alien’s criminal history; Valencia-Ruiz faces up to 10 years at sentencing, the band reserved for reentry defendants whose records include felony-grade history. By waiving indictment and pleading guilty a mere ten days after his federal arrest, he resolved the immigration charge while the 2025 state charges from the Stamford arrest remain the separate thread of his legal exposure.
The plea’s timing compresses the case: removed in June 2019, arrested in Stamford in August 2025, charged federally in September 2026, and convicted by plea in Bridgeport at the start of October.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The case was announced by U.S. Attorney Sullivan’s office as part of Operation Take Back America, the Department of Justice nationwide initiative that marshals its resources to repel illegal immigration, eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect communities from violent crime. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations — the agency that executed both the 2019 removal and the 2026 federal arrest. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justyn P. Stokely.
The consequences pending are an unscheduled sentencing where the 10-year maximum frames the term, with the reentry conviction itself final from the October 1 plea. Valencia-Ruiz has been detained since September 21, 2026, and the conviction on his record — a federal felony for returning after removal — means any further unlawful entry carries escalating exposure. The 2025 Stamford charges, which triggered the federal attention, continue on their own track in state court, unresolved in the federal release.
Current Status
Valencia-Ruiz is a convicted — by plea — federal defendant awaiting an unscheduled sentencing before the Bridgeport court, facing up to 10 years for the unlawful reentry. He has been in federal custody since September 21, 2026. The guilty plea resolved the immigration felony; it did not resolve the August 15, 2025 Stamford charges — risk of injury to a child, carrying a dangerous weapon, threatening, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct — whose disposition remains on the state side of his legal file. The expected end state, after whatever term the court imposes, is a second removal to El Salvador, this time with a federal reentry conviction and a longer criminal record behind it than the 2019 removal carried.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Valencia-Ruiz’s twelve-year path — a 2014 illegal entry, a skipped immigration hearing, two Connecticut arrests and a 2019 conviction, a removal he undid by returning, and a 2025 five-charge arrest that included risk of injury to a child — now runs through a federal felony conviction for reentry and a pending sentencing that could hold him for years. At 29, the structure of his exposure is set by the record he built while removed-status pending: the reentry statute punishes the return more severely each time the record deepens, and his October plea locks in the federal conviction that makes any future return a more serious crime than this one. The state charges from August 2025 remain live, meaning the Stamford arrest that ended his reentry years could still produce its own consequences on top of the federal sentence to come.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut, “Salvadoran National Pleads Guilty to Illegally Reentering U.S.,” October 1, 2026 — source