A Portland man has pleaded guilty to trying to bribe an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport his estranged wife and her child, authorities said.
Antonio Burgos, 48, first contacted an agent by following the officer from an ICE facility in Portland to a Vancouver parking lot, where he offered them money to deport his wife, The Oregonian reported.
Burgos explained he was in the process of divorcing the woman, who was reportedly from El Salvador.
He said he had sponsored the unnamed woman’s residency in the U.S. after they were married in her home country, but now that they were separating, he wanted her, as well as her child from a previous relationship, out of the U.S., according to reports.
The officer declined and reported it to the Office of Professional Responsibility, and at their instruction, called Burgos the next week, The Oregonian wrote.
During the call, which was recorded, Burgos offered $3,000 to remove his wife, a request he repeated during a second phone call the following week. Burgos and the agent met in person on June 26, where he increased his offer to $4,000 to deport his wife and her child. He was arrested three days later and originally faced three charges of bribery.
On Tuesday, Burgos pleaded guilty to a bribery charge. He will be sentenced on May 6. He faces up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
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