BURLINGTON – An illegal alien from Mexico, who authorities say used counterfeit immigration documents to get hired at a Chittenden County business, has been sentenced to five months in federal prison for unlawful reentry into the United States after being deported multiple times.

Artemio Cordova Mendez, 36, had been previously ordered removed twice for being unlawfully in the United States, but returned without permission, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine H. Flynn said he unlawfully slipped back across the border without authorization after each deportation.

Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took him into custody in Vermont when they conducted a targeted enforcement operation at Lamell Lumber on Jericho Road in Essex on Aug. 2, federal court records show

By coincidence or otherwise, the ICE investigation into workers at Lamell Lumber appeared to have started shortly after a February protest at the business by migrant workers and friends from Migrant Justice. The migrant workers, who are provided free housing as part of their work benefits, went on strike for higher wages. The investigation uncovered the use of bogus immigration documents by some Mexican workers at the lumberyard, court records noted.

Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss told Cordova Mendez he would get credit for time served since his August arrest. Reiss said he would not be subject to the traditional supervised release conditions once discharged from prison. However, Cordova Mendez will face deportation again at the end of his prison term.

Cordova Mendez reentered the United States in 2019 and has been in Vermont for about five years, including three in Essex, records show.

Flynn said the federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory, had suggested a penalty between 8 and 14 months due in part to his past criminal immigration conduct.

She wrote an 8-month sentence would help provide deterrence, “which neither of Cordova Mendez’s prior sentences appears to have done.”

ICE also caught Alejandro Monfil Carbello, 40, during the raid at Lamell Lumber and charged him with being in the country illegally after being ordered removed by an immigration judge.

Monfil Carbello was previously removed once from the United States, but illegally came back across the border, records show.

He pleaded guilty in federal court in Burlington to a charge of illegal reentry of a deported alien on Oct. 22 and was sentenced by Judge Reiss to time served.

Federal court records show both men had provided fake or counterfeit papers to a temporary employment agency, Agri-Placement Services (APS), which places immigrants on farms for work. Both men were eventually placed at Lamell Lumber in Essex to work at their sawmill facility on Vermont 15, also known as Jericho Road.

APS is based in Rochester, N.Y. and provides farm workers at 17 sites across New England, including 13 in Vermont, according to the company. They provide services in 15 states with more than 700 workers at 114 work sites, the company says on its website.

Vermont News First was told a third lumber yard worker also was taken into custody during the Essex raid, but there is no known public record identifying the person or any charge.

Cordova Mendez’s defense lawyer, Christina Nolan, had tried unsuccessfully to get him sentenced when he pleaded guilty in September. Judge Reiss rejected the motion for an expedited sentencing and asked for a presentence report from the U.S. Probation Office.

Both the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Probation Office had opposed the written motion by Nolan, who had maintained she thought the case had “unique, straightforward circumstances” for an illegal reentry case.

Nolan, who served as the U.S. Attorney for Vermont (2017-21), had said the sentencing delay would postpone her client getting reunited with his wife and three children. She said at the time she thought the federal sentencing guidelines had suggested a penalty between 6 and 12 months.

She said Cordova Mendez wanted the court to consider that he thought “he effectively had no choice but to break the law to feed and house his family” back in Mexico.

After both men were arrested, Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle ordered them jailed without bail as serious flight risks after hearing arguments from Flynn.

Flynn said Monfil Carbello apparently had been in Vermont for about a year. She noted that in during his 2016 arrest in New Mexico, Monfil Carbello said he was headed to the Burlington area.

Doyle noted Monfil Carbello had been in Essex for only about six months and has a brother in Vermont.

ICE served Lamell Lumber a notice of inspection and a subpoena on March 6 ordering the third-generation company to produce various business and immigration records, a court affidavit notes.

When the records were produced, an auditor with Homeland Security Investigations, determined Cordova Mendez had filed a fraudulent Alien Registration Number on Oct. 6, 2022 and that a copy of a second document was counterfeit that said he was eligible for employment, federal court records show.

The same thing happened with Monfil Carballoi, court records show. He filed a false Immigration File Registration Number on Feb. 7, 2025, Homeland Security said.

Each man “used a forged and counterfeit document to satisfy a requirement under the INA” (Immigration and Nationality Act).

Lamell Lumber was apparently unaware that some of the documents were fraudulent, officials said. Company President Ron Lamell declined comment when the men were arrested.

U.S. Border Patrol Agents arrested Cordova Mendez on Aug. 10, 2010 near Lukeville, Arizona for unlawfully entering the country, court records show. A federal judge found him guilty 6 days later and imposed a “time served” sentence. Cordova Mendez was advised and acknowledged he was prohibited from re-entering the United States for at least 5 years. He was removed the following day on a flight from Tucson, Arizona to Mexico City, records show.

Cordova Mendez was caught again unlawfully entering the United States again near Antelope Wells, N.M. on Feb. 20, 2011, just six months after his initial banishment. He was criminally charged with reentry after deportation and also served another notice indicating that he could not return for 20 years.

A federal judge found him guilty April 5, 2011 and sentenced him to another “time served” sentence, which equated to just over 6 weeks in custody. The following day he was officially removed on foot through the Pasco Del Norte Port of Entry, records show.

At no time Cordova Mendez received permission from the Department of Homeland Security to re-enter the United States, but somehow he was found unlawfully in Vermont.