Over 235 New Federal Immigration Cases Filed in Western District of Texas

SAN ANTONIO - Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 237 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from Oct. 31 through Nov. 5, announced U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons. Charges were brought against alien smugglers and illegal aliens with past convictions for numerous DWIs, thefts, multiple prior removals, and violent crimes to include aggravated battery on a pregnant victim.

Among the new cases, two U.S. citizens and an illegal alien from Mexico are charged with alien smuggling after a joint law enforcement operation interdicted a tractor trailer carrying 53 illegal aliens in El Paso. On Oct. 28, Horizon Police Department officers initiated a traffic stop on a semi-truck driven by U.S. citizen Miguel Angel Debruhl. U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted an immigration inspection inside the truck's cab and allegedly discovered a backpack containing a large number of cell phones. Debruhl was placed under arrest.

Simultaneously, a second semi-truck was pulled over by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper. The truck was driven by U.S. citizen Alan Montelongo, who allegedly consented to an inspection of the semi-truck's cab and trailer. A criminal complaint alleges that the inspection led to the discovery of 53 illegal aliens sitting along both sides of the trailer. Further investigation allegedly revealed that Montelongo had agreed to transport the illegal aliens through the I-25 Border Patrol checkpoint in Las Cruces and would be paid approximately $16,000 to split with Debruhl.

U.S. Border Patrol continued surveillance at a suspected stash house where, according to the criminal complaint, Abel Delval-Dominguez, an illegal alien from Mexico, was seen loading groceries and several full black trash bags into a pickup truck. The complaint alleges that agents had previously seen Delval-Dominguez and the pickup transporting aliens between the stash house and the truck yard from which Debruhl and Montelongo departed on Oct. 28. Delval-Dominguez was arrested and charged for alien smuggling along with Debruhl and Montelongo.

Edgar Villanueva-Garcia, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested in El Paso on Oct. 28 and charged with illegal re-entry. He was recently deported for the fourth time through Dallas on Oct. 6, following a conviction for his second DWI. Villanueva-Garcia has also been previously convicted for improper entry by an alien and for bail jumping.

In Del Rio, Gregorio Zamano-Ortiz, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested and charged with illegal re-entry. Zamano-Ortiz was previously convicted in New York for third-degree assault and first-degree sexual abuse.

Illegal alien from Mexico Paulin Balderas-Mejia was arrested near Carrizo Springs and charged with illegal re-entry. In December 2019, he was convicted of harboring aliens and sentenced to more than three years in prison. He was deported for the second time on Nov. 16, 2022.

Manuel Guadalupe Armenta-Ortega, also an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested near Eagle Pass and charged with illegal re-entry after being deported for the fourth time on Sept. 21. Prior to his September removal, Armenta-Ortega was arrested for his second DWI. A felon, Armenta-Ortega has been convicted of deadly conduct discharge of a firearm as well as assault causing bodily injury to a family member.

An illegal alien from Nicaragua was also arrested near Eagle Pass and charged with illegal re-entry. Eling Francisco Briceno-Vidaurre has been previously deported six times, the last being in March 2025. He has been convicted of illegal re-entry twice as well as possession of a weapon and possession of an unregistered firearm.

Antonio Vargas-Colindres, an illegal alien from Honduras, was arrested near Eagle Pass on Nov. 1. Vargas-Colindres, who has been previously deported five times, was charged with his second illegal re-entry. He was convicted of illegal re-entry in Miami, Florida, in July 2023 and sentenced to one day in prison. The following month, Vargas-Colindres was convicted in Miami for aggravated battery on a pregnant victim, cruelty toward a child and cocaine possession.

Also an illegal alien from Honduras, Mainor Castillo-Reyes was arrested in Austin and booked in the Travis County Jail on Oct. 28 for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He was transferred to ICE custody and now faces an illegal re-entry charge. Castillo-Reyes was convicted of indecency with a child in 2017 and sentenced to four years in state prison. He was deported in August 2019.

Jose Medardo Anariba-Cruz, an illegal alien from Honduras, is charged in Austin with illegal re-entry. He was arrested for this third DWI in December 2025 and convicted of fleeing from police and reckless driving. He's been previously removed from the U.S. three times.

In San Antonio, Geovani Lizbeth Rodriguez-Delgado, an illegal alien from Mexico, was released from the Bexar County Jail and transported to ICE custody after being convicted of assault causing bodily injury. Rodriguez-Delgado had been previously removed from the U.S. to Mexico in September 2025. In 2009, she was convicted and sentenced to four years in state prison for robbery.

Another illegal alien from Mexico, Juan Vincente Romero-Trejo, was transferred into ICE custody from the Bexar County Jail on Wednesday. Romero-Trejo had been arrested on Oct. 1 for assault causing bodily injury to a family member. He's been previously removed from the U.S. four times and has three convictions in the South District of Texas for illegal re-entry.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas comprises 68 counties located in the central and western areas of Texas, encompasses nearly 93,000 square miles and an estimated population of 7.6 million people. The district includes three of the five largest cities in Texas-San Antonio, Austin and El Paso-and shares 660 miles of common border with the Republic of Mexico.

Indictments and criminal complaints are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

These 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 (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

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