Bay City Federal Courthouse

The U.S. District Courthouse in downtown Bay City.

(Andrew Dodson | The Bay City Times)

BAY CITY, MI -- A routine traffic stop led police to arresting a 19-year-old Mexican woman on charges she illegally entered the country, something she had done at least three times previously.

According to an affidavit authored by U.S. Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Michael Awe and contained in court files, a Michigan State Police trooper on the morning of April 29 pulled over a black 2004 Saab sedan on Interstate 75 in Bay County. The trooper stopped the car for speeding.

The Saab contained a male driver, a male passenger, and a female passenger, none of whom could effectively communicate with the trooper or had valid Michigan driver's licenses, the affidavit states. The trooper called Awe, who spoke with the occupants in Spanish over the phone.

After identifying himself to them as an immigration officer, Awe obtained the occupants' names and ages.

"All three admitted to me that they had entered the United States illegally and had no documents to remain in the country," Awe wrote.

The trooper detained the three people and took them to the Tri-City Post in Williams Township. A Border Patrol agent responded to the post and took the three subjects to the U.S. Border Patrol Marysville Station in St. Clair County.

Investigators determined the detained woman, Josefina Hernandez-Gomez, had a history of illegally entering the U.S. and being deported, according to the affidavit.

* On Nov. 21, 2015, she was removed from the U.S. to Mexico through the port of entry in Antelope Walls, New Mexico.

* Less than a month later on Dec. 17, she was again removed from the U.S. to Mexico at Nogales, Arizona.

* Six days after that on Dec. 23, Hernandez-Gomez was again found in the U.S. and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegal entry in federal court. She received a 30-day jail sentence with credit for time served and was then deported to Mexico on Jan. 20, 2016.

Awe's affidavit concludes that Hernandez-Gomez's "most recent apprehension and subsequent detention was an administrative, non-criminal action pursuant to the authority ... to arrest and detain any alien entering or attempting to enter the United States, or any alien present in the United States, who is reasonably believed to be in violation of any law or regulation regulating the admissions, exclusion, expulsion, or removal of aliens."

On Tuesday, May 9, Hernandez-Gomez appeared before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Patricia T. Morris at the federal courthouse in downtown Bay City. Morris ordered Hernandez-Gomez be detained pending trial on one count of illegal reentry of a previously removed alien. The charge is punishable by up to two years' incarceration.

Court records do not specify what authorities did with the two men who were in the car with Hernandez-Gomez. The men's names were not contained in Awe's affidavit and The Bay City Times-MLive was unable to contact a border patrol representative for additional information.

Hernandez-Gomez is represented by attorney Bryan J. Sherer. MLive has left messages with Sherer's office.

A pretrial conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, May 12.