Miguel Angel Jimenez Fuentes, a 23-year-old Salvadoran national, is serving a six month sentence imposed on him after appearing in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court for an immigration offense. He appeared before Senior Magistrate Tricia Pitts-Anderson on Tuesday, August 27, 2019 where he was read the charge of failing to comply with the conditions of his visitor’s permit. According to Immigration officials, Fuentes entered Belize on July 11, 2018 and was legally permitted to remain in the country until August 10, 2019 but violated that condition when he failed to get an extension to his permit. He has managed to remain in Belize until he was found on Saturday, August 24, 2019 during a checkpoint stop.
Fuentes pleaded guilty to the charge and explained that he would like to remain living in Belize because the gang activity in his country makes living hard. He said that he would legally want to apply to become a citizen but unfortunately for him, the Immigration Department has already made an application to the court for Fuentes’s removal. That removal order was granted and while he was fined $1,000 plus a $5 cost of court, he was unable to pay the fine. It is for that reason that he is remanded for six months.
