Arlington Grocery Store Employee Pleads Guilty To Illegal Reentry Into U.S.

ALEXANDRIA, VA — An Arlington grocery store employee who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in January as he arrived for work pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to being in the U.S. illegally, authorities say.

Dionel Florian-Garcia of Alexandria was indicted on Feb. 12 in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria on a charge of illegal reentry subsequent to a felony conviction, according to court records.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Nathaniel Wenstrup, who is representing Florian-Garcia, notified the court on Feb. 13 that his client planned to change his plea to guilty at his arraignment, which was originally scheduled for Feb. 17, according to court documents. The defense attorney asked the court to reschedule the arraignment to Monday, when he planned to enter a motion for immediate sentencing.

Although the court agreed to the new date, the judge denied Wenstrup's motion on Monday and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 12 in the federal courthouse in Alexandria, court records say.

Florian-Garcia, who is a native and citizen of Guatemala, was removed from the U.S. on two separate occasions, July 21, 2010, and July 6, 2012, according to court documents. Between those two dates, he reentered the country.

On April 11, 2012, Florian-Garcia was convicted in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Maryland of first-degree assault for stabbing his roommate in the abdomen with a kitchen knife, an injury that required medical intervention, according to court documents. Florian-Garcia was found to be intoxicated at the time of stabbing. Although he was sentenced to six months of incarceration, he was deported the second time the following July.

ICE first became aware that Florian-Garcia had reentered the country last September, when he was arrested in Arlington County for driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor offense, according to court records.

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Learning that Florian-Garcia had been detained in the Arlington County Jail on Sept. 12, an ICE deportation officer in Fairfax County compared fingerprints taken during that detention to those in ICE fingerprint records of previously deported individuals, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant request.

Finding a match, the ICE officer confirmed that Florian-Garcia was a Guatemalan citizen and that he had been convicted in 2012 of a felony, according to the affidavit.

On Jan. 14, 2026, ICE officers waited outside the Arlington grocery store where Florian-Garcia had been an employed for 12 years and arrested him as he arrived for work. He has remained in federal custody since then.

"The ICE agent’s investigation and review of that file revealed that the defendant had two prior removals and that he had a prior felony conviction prior to the most recent removal," according to court records. "The defendant currently has an active ICE detainer."

Although the defense and prosecution were in agreement regarding the facts of the case, they disputed the sentencing guidelines, according to court documents.

"Mr. Florian-Garcia’s criminal history includes 2012 convictions for driving without a license and felony assault, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail. Both convictions are sufficiently old that they would not be counted if the offense conduct was determined – per U.S. Probation policy – by when Mr. Florian-Garcia was found in the United States in 2025," Wenstrup wrote in his motion for immediate sentencing.

The government was relying on a statement Florian-Garcia made to an ICE officer before he had legal representation. Asked when he reentered the country, Florian-Garcia told the officer "March 2013," a date that has not been corroborated. The government wanted the court to base its sentencing on when the defendant said he reentered the country and not when ICE determined he was in the U.S., which was in 2025.

"This approach would result in criminal history points and a guidelines enhancement with a resulting guideline range of 8-14 months," Wenstrup wrote. "The policy of U.S. Probation is that they do not use defendants’ uncorroborated statements to determine the beginning of offense conduct. Following Probation’s approach, Mr. Florian-Garcia has no enhancements and no criminal history – and a resulting guideline range of 0-6 months."

When Florian-Garcia was arrested by ICE, he was out on bail on the DWI charge, which is a Class 1 misdemeanor, according to court documents. He'd already had a hearing in Arlington General District court on Dec. 12, 2025 and a subsequent hearing scheduled for Jan. 22, 2026, which was continued to May 14.

Since returning to the U.S., Florian-Garcia racked up six charges in Virginia in addition to the 2025 DWI arrest, according to court records. None of them were felonies or involved violence. All six were for traffic infractions, such as speeding or failing to obey a highway sign. Where applicable, Florian-Garcia paid the necessary fines.

"The convictions at issue are fourteen years old," Wenstrup wrote in the motion for immediate sentencing. "Mr. Florian-Garcia has no convictions since 2012; he is presumed innocent of the DWI 1st Offense charge pending in Arlington County."