Border enforcement efforts result in 160 more cases filed in the Southern District of Texas

HOUSTON - A total of 161 individuals have been charged in immigration and border-security related matters from June 12-17, announced Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck.

Of those, 33 people face illegal entry charges, while another 104 allegedly reentered the United States after prior removal. Many have prior felony convictions related to narcotics trafficking, immigration offenses, violent crimes and more. An additional 21 people allegedly engaged in human smuggling, while the remaining three cases involve other immigration crimes.

Among the newly filed complaints, Guatemalan national Rodolfo Belisario Mendez-Mencho was allegedly removed from the United States March 29. However, authorities discovered him again illegally in the country near Sullivan City, according to the charges. The criminal complaint alleges he has a prior conviction for abuse/abandonment/cruelty.

Three others - Jose Robledo Cruz, Jose De Jesus Garcia-Andrade and Eduardo Lopez-Figueroa, all Mexican nationals - were also allegedly found in the McAllen area despite having been previously removed. According to the charges, they have various convictions of felony assault by strangulation, DWI (3 or more) and/or trafficking of a controlled substance.

All four men lacked legal authorization to be in the United States and face up to 20 years in federal prison upon conviction.

In addition to the new cases, two men were sentenced to federal prison for separate alien smuggling offenses that involved assaults on Border Patrol agents. Mexican national Adrian Isaac Pimentel-Garcia assaulted an agent while attempting to evade arrest after guiding illegal aliens through a residential area. Juan Carlos Lopez Jr. led agents on a vehicle pursuit before driving toward an agent and striking a patrol vehicle. Both received 36-month prison sentences.

In Houston, Marco Antonio Zuniga, an illegal alien from Mexico, received a 27-month federal prison sentence for unlawfully reentering the country. He had previously been convicted of meth trafficking and was serving a term of supervised release when authorities encountered him in Houston without authorization to be in the United States.

The cases are referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, ICE - Enforcement and Removal Operations, BP, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with additional assistance from state and local law enforcement partners.

The cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

Under current leadership, public safety and a secure border are the top priorities for this district. Enhanced enforcement both at the border and in the interior of the district have yielded aliens engaged in unlawful activity or with serious criminal histories, including convictions for human trafficking, sexual assault and violence against children.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas remains one of the busiest in the nation. It represents 43 counties and more than 10 million people covering 44,000 square miles. Assistant U.S. Attorneys from all seven divisions including Houston, Galveston, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, McAllen and Laredo work directly with our law enforcement partners on the federal, state and local levels to prosecute the suspected offenders of these and other federal crimes.

An indictment or criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.