A twice-deported Mexican national attempted to obtain a visa fraudulently by staging his own kidnapping in St. Paul, Minnesota, earlier this year, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota.

On Tuesday, Alejandro Mario Cortes, 46, pleaded guilty to the ruse in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

Cortes was found by a snowplow driver last April, after he had his nephew bind his mouth and hands with duct tape and drop him off in St. Paul, the Pioneer Press reported.

The man’s goal, the Press reported, was to obtain a “U visa.” (Shown above right is a photo representation, not the actual individual.)

These special U nonimmigrant visas, as described by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are “set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse.”

U visas were designed to “strengthen the ability of law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking of aliens and other crimes, while also protecting victims of crimes who have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse.”

The elaborate ruse by Cortes to feign his own kidnapping involved traveling from Chicago to Minnesota, and even included fake text messages from the pretend captors who were threatening Cortes and his family.

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The original criminal complaint indicates Cortes’ associate — his nephew, according to the Press — helped arrange the staged kidnapping by helping Cortes hide out in a well-appointed storage facility during the time frame of his alleged abduction.

To cap it all off, Cortes admitted he “sought medical treatment at Regions Hospital for injuries he claimed to have sustained during the kidnapping, and he obtained gift cards for personal items from an organization providing services to crime victims,” Tuesday’s release from the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Cortes had already been deported twice — once in 2001 and again in 2010 — before this latest stunt. While it appears the staged kidnapping involved no direct victims, the indirect harm is clear.

Federal, state, and local government resources were used to address the situation — on the American taxpayers’ dime. The crime assistance organization that generously provided gift cards to the fraudulent “victim” had less to give to genuine crime victims.

Repeat illegal border crossers like Cortes are, if anything, persistent. Once deported, what is to stop him or any others (those deported for more violent crimes) from joining one of the many mob-like groups intent on storming our borders?

Thousands of unvetted noncitizens are making their way through Central America and Mexico right now, on their way to cross the U.S. border illegally en masse.

Many of these migrants hope for a better life, but some surely have more nefarious ends in mind.

Though many are needy people hoping for a better life in the United States, some surely have more nefarious ends in mind — and, in any event, there’s something called the rule of law by which all must abide.

For more on the caravan issue, check out remarks from Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, on Wednesday morning:

Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.