HARTFORD, Conn. — Federal prosecutors charged two previously deported illegal immigrants with unlawful reentry this week after both men accumulated violent and drug-related criminal records across multiple states before their arrests in Connecticut, U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan announced.
Anel Del Carmen Zapata Polanco, 42, a citizen of the Dominican Republic also known as Anel Polanco, Anel Zapata Delcarme, and Anel Zapata, was arrested after his release from state prison and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson in Hartford, where he was ordered detained. Zapata faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison if convicted of unlawful reentry under 8 U.S.C. § 1326.
Zapata’s criminal history spans two decades and three states. In February 2006, he was convicted in New York County Criminal Court of possession of a forged instrument in the third degree and sentenced to time served. In January 2016, he was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin and sentenced to 57 months of imprisonment. He was removed to the Dominican Republic on September 19, 2017. After illegally reentering the country, Zapata was convicted on February 11, 2026, in Connecticut Superior Court in New Haven of drug and firearm offenses and sentenced to 10 years of incarceration, execution suspended after three years. On February 24, 2026, he was convicted in Connecticut Superior Court in Middletown of firearm possession and threatening offenses and sentenced to six years of incarceration, execution suspended after two years.
Edvin Barnica Esquivel, 34, a citizen of Guatemala, was arrested the day before and appeared in Bridgeport federal court, where he too was ordered detained. Barnica was first apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol in Falfurrias, Texas, on February 25, 2012, and removed to Guatemala on March 22, 2012. Using the alias “Edvin Morales,” he was arrested on November 19, 2017, by the Hammonton, New Jersey, Police Department and charged with aggravated assault. He pleaded guilty to third-degree aggravated assault and was sentenced to three years of incarceration. He was removed to Guatemala a second time on April 4, 2019.
Barnica illegally reentered the United States again and was arrested by Danbury, Conn., police on February 23, 2025, on charges of assault in the third degree and disorderly conduct, which were later dismissed. On October 18, 2025, Danbury police arrested him again on charges of attempted arson, breach of peace, and criminal mischief. Those charges remain pending; Barnica had been released on a $20,000 bond and was living in Danbury at the time of his federal arrest. He faces a maximum of two years in federal prison if convicted.
Both cases are being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Enforcement and Removal Operations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel is prosecuting the Zapata case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anastasia E. King is prosecuting the Barnica case. Sullivan stressed that the complaints are only charges and that both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The prosecutions fall under Operation Take Back America, the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative targeting illegal immigration, cartels, transnational criminal organizations, and violent crime. Both defendants remain in federal custody pending further proceedings in the District of Connecticut.