Utah couple to spend four days in jail after admitting to helping a man flee ICE 

A Utah couple who admitted to helping a man escape as immigration officers tried to detain him was ordered Monday to serve four days behind bars, a sentence prosecutors say will help deter others from doing the same as the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown. 

“This crime merits more than just a probation sentence, a public scolding, or some finger wagging,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. “Defendants and the general public need to understand that if they interfere with lawful ICE arrests, they will go to jail.”

Utah couple accused of helping man flee immigration agents face federal charges

Kelzie Ryann Luna and George Sanchez-Juarez both pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to a class A misdemeanor count of theft and disposal of government property, along with aiding and abetting. 

In October 2025, the couple was in their car at a gas station in Salt Lake City when a man ran into traffic and came up to them, saying “help me please” in Spanish, prosecutors said in court filings. 

From the passenger seat, Luna recognized him as a past customer at the McDonald’s nearby where she used to work. She later said in an Instagram post that he had a gash on his arm and a black eye, prosecutors alleged, and that “we brought him to safety and made sure he was okay.”

In another post, Luna was accused of posting a video of a man sprinting into traffic and another clip of someone cutting off handcuffs with the caption, “(Expletive) ice viva Mexico,” followed by prayer hands emojis. 

The immigration officers had gone to a Salt Lake City Home Depot looking for four people previously deported, court documents say, with one agent saying the escapee “looked like one of the four targets.” He got away from a vehicle while officers were arresting someone else. 

In federal court in Salt Lake City on Monday, Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead sentenced the pair to four days of imprisonment, which they’re expected to serve in a jail within the state. Pead also imposed six months of supervised release and a $600 fine on both Luna and Sanchez-Juarez. 

In addition, the judge ordered them to pay $28 in restitution to cover the cost of the handcuffs they were accused of destroying with a bolt cutter.  

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah did not say in a news release announcing the outcome whether immigration agents eventually found the man who got away with help from the couple. 

In the sentencing memo, prosecutors said the couple in their early 20s have young twins, are employed and have no prior criminal history. They said a sentence of four days or two weekends behind bars is sufficient. 

Charles Engle, special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in Denver, said in a statement that the couple’s actions “were not harmless. They undermined public safety, obstructed justice, and showed blatant disregard for the rule of law.” 

“Those who choose to take the law into their own hands will be held accountable,” U.S. Attorney for Utah Melissa Holyoak added in her own statement, noting the consequences include a permanent federal criminal record.

The judge ordered the couple to report to the U.S. Marshals Service to serve their sentences at different times next month. Attorneys representing them declined to comment on the decision.

An analysis released last week by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute counted 980,000 deportations from the start of the second Trump administration through July, Stateline reported. The total included arrangements to leave voluntarily after an arrest.