The federal government this week dropped charges against a Soldotna restaurant owner currently detained by immigration officials in Washington. The move comes roughly a week after his lawyer argued the federal government couldn’t prosecute and detain his client at the same time.
As of Tuesday morning, 47-year-old Francisco Rodriguez-Rincon remained in federal custody. According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainee database, he’s at the agency’s Northwest Facility in Tacoma, Washington.
Until this week, Rodriguez-Rincon faced two criminal charges. But on Monday, a federal judge in Anchorage granted prosecutors’ request to dismiss the case. In their motion, prosecutors cite the “unnecessary cost, logistical challenge, and delay” associated with different proceedings happening in different states.
Rodriguez-Rincon is being detained in Washington, but he was charged in Alaska.
Last week, Rodriguez-Rincon’s lawyer argued the federal government couldn’t prosecute his client and work to deport him at the same time. Immigration officials took Rodriguez-Rincon into custody a few weeks after an Anchorage judge had released him on his own recognizance in the criminal case against him.
As reported by Alaska’s News Source, a judge ordered the federal immigration enforcement agency, also called ICE, to return Rodriguez-Rincon to Alaska after that motion was filed. Federal courts did not allow remote participation in the proceedings.
Before yesterday, Rodriguez-Rincon faced two criminal charges brought by the federal government in March. Prosecutors say he illegally re-entered the United States after being deported almost 30 years ago and made a false statement of citizenship when he applied for an Alaska Drivers License in 2023.
Now that the case against Rodriguez-Rincon has been dropped, it’s unclear what happens next in his immigration proceedings. His lawyer declined to comment on Rodriguez-Rincon’s status post-dismissal. In court documents, prosecutors say Rodriguez-Rincon fears persecution if returned to Mexico, his birth country. That claim, prosecutors say, has delayed his deportation.
Rodriguez-Rincon is known locally as “Pancho.” He owns two Mexican restaurants in the Soldotna area, Senor Panchos and Sol-Agave Mexico! Both businesses shuttered abruptly after he was detained by ICE. A GoFundMe organized for Rodriguez-Rincon’s wife and four kids had raised more than $4,200 as of Tuesday afternoon.
