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Immigrant pleads guilty to being in US illegally after judge allegedly helped him evade agents

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An immigrant who allegedly evaded federal agents with the help of a Milwaukee County judge pleaded guilty Thursday to being in the U.S. illegally.

Federal prosecutors charged Eduardo Flores-Ruiz in April with reentering the country illegally after being deported. He faces up to two years in prison when he’s sentenced and agreed to be deported whenever he is released, according to a summary of the plea deal he reached with prosecutors.

Online court records did not list a sentencing date. His attorney, Martin J. Pruhs, didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press on Thursday afternoon seeking comment.

According to court documents, Flores-Ruiz first entered the United States illegally near Nogales, Arizona, in January 2013. He was arrested the next day and deported. He subsequently returned to the U.S. without permission and was charged this past March in Milwaukee with misdemeanor domestic battery.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents learned Flores-Ruiz was in the country after the Milwaukee County jail submitted his fingerprints to federal databases. Agents traveled to the county courthouse on April 18, planning to arrest him as he appeared for a hearing in the case.

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