Man Who Wrote ‘Shoot Your President’ to Frame and Deport Immigrant Sentenced

A resident of Wisconsin has received a 16.5-year prison sentence for framing a Mexican immigrant with fabricated threats against Donald Trump. Demetric Scott, 52, was found guilty of writing threatening letters in the name of Ramón Morales Reyes, an undocumented immigrant who was expected to testify against him in a robbery case.

Prosecutors said Scott attempted to have Reyes deported so he could not testify. The robbery happened in 2023 when Scott allegedly stabbed Milwaukee resident Reyes with a box cutter and stole his bicycle. As the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement intensified in 2025, Scott attempted to use this crackdown to his own advantage, authorities said.

From his prison cell, Scott wrote letters threatening to kill the president. One letter read, “I am not scared of the Trump administration. I am not running scared. My family is with the Mexican Mafia. How would you like it if we used a bomb to blow up the White House while your precious president is still inside.”

Scott mailed the letters through family members and directed them to state and federal officials using Reyes' name. As the Department of Homeland Security received the threats, Reyes was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The case drew international attention when Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly referenced Reyes’ arrest in a press release, and claimed that the crackdown was helping capture criminals. However, when investigators questioned Reyes, they found that he could not even write English and that his handwriting did not match the letters.

Scott later admitted to writing the letters to trigger Reyes’ deportation. He underwent a trial in January 2026, and a jury found him guilty of identity theft, witness intimidation, bail jumping, and reckless endangerment. On February 27, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Kristy Yang sentenced Scott to 16.5 years in prison, followed by 13 years of extended supervision.

According to the court order, Scott received 10 years in prison and five years of extended supervision for second-degree reckless endangering safety; one year and six months in prison and two years of extended supervision for misappropriating identity; and five years in prison and five years on extended supervision for intimidating a witness.

Scott also received 882 days of confinement for bail jumping, which he has already served. Announcing the sentence, Yang said to Scott, “It was clear, and it still is clear to me today that you only care about yourself. You went to great lengths to advance your own self-interests.”

She added, “You even stated in open court your disdain for the victim and how you still wanted the victim deported. It's such a shame that you would feel like that and have so much hate.”

Reyes was released on bond in June 2025. He entered the United States in the 1980s and worked as a dishwasher. His deportation case remains pending, and he has applied for a U-visa, which allows crime victims to live in the United States for up to four years if they cooperate with law enforcement.