Convicted murderer among 306 people charged in border security-related cases during second week of September

HOUSTON - A total of 303 cases have been filed in relation to immigration and border security matters from Sept. 5-11, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

Among those charged are 126 individuals who allegedly reentered the country illegally after removal. Most have felony convictions for narcotics, violent crime, sexual offenses and prior immigration crimes. Another 162 people face charges of illegally entering the country, while 14 others are allegedly involved in human smuggling. The remaining four individuals face charges that include firearms offenses and other immigration-related crimes.

Some charged with felony reentry after removal are five illegal aliens who had just been removed this summer. One is Mexican national Luis Pablo Estolano-Velasquez. The charges allege he has a prior conviction for capital murder of multiple persons, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and removed in June. However, authorities allegedly found him near Pharr, illegally in the country this week.

Other criminal complaints allege Mexican nationals Adan Jaimes-Gomez and Jose Alvarado-Aguirre were removed June 23 and Aug. 21, respectively, while Honduran nationals Franklin Geovanny Escobar-Matias and Jose Mauricio Garcia-Martinez were removed July 27 and Aug. 1. Each allegedly has prior convictions, including illegal reentry, robbery or manufacturing and delivering a controlled substance.

Authorities also found in the Rio Grande Valley Mexican nationals Juan Gerardo Garcia-Torres and Juan Manuel Zamudio-Villasenor as well as Honduran national Cesar Ernesto Amendola-Hernandez with no legal permission to be in the United States, according to the complaints against them. The charges allege all have prior convictions for illegal reentry.

All face up to 20 years in prison, if convicted.

The Southern District of Texas also indicted a 33-year-old Mexican national for illegal reentry following his second alleged DWI and a fatal crash. Law enforcement allegedly arrested Eduardo Balderas-Zuniga May 11 for a DWI in Harris County. Authorities removed him from the country, but the charges allege he illegally returned and was again arrested after allegedly driving drunk and causing the death of an innocent civilian.

In addition to the new cases, eight violent MS-13 gang members, all El Salvadorian citizens who illegally resided in Houston, pleaded guilty and face decades in prison for racketeering charges involving multiple murders and witness tampering. The men used machetes, a baseball bat and strangulation to expand the gang's power. They also then sent photos of the victims' bodies to MS-13 leaders in El Salvador, sometimes after mutilating or dismembering them. Under their plea agreements, three will each serve 50 years in federal prison, while the others face sentences ranging from 35-50 years.

"This case demonstrates the tremendous public safety threat that MS-13 and other criminal terrorist organizations pose to American communities," said Ganjei. "Here, defendants carried out a series of murders - bludgeoning, butchering, and strangling their victims with sadistic glee. These are people without remorse or pity. When it comes to eradicating these gangs, the United States cannot afford to either relent or fail. As the facts of this case show, the stakes are too high."

In Brownsville, a Mexican citizen illegally residing in the Weslaco area was sentenced to 204 months following his conviction for illegal reentry after removal, conspiracy to possess with the intent to deliver over five kilograms of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Jorge Huerta-Garcia was indicted in March 2024 for illegal reentry after removal. During this time, law enforcement was also investigating him as part of a drug trafficking organization and linked him to an incident involving nearly 40 kilograms of cocaine. Huerta-Garcia, previously convicted in 2017 of being a felon in possession of a firearm and removed from the United States in 2022, was again arrested in March 2024 with a loaded AR-10 rifle, ammunition and firearm magazines.

Mexican national and gang member Raul Angel Serna Buentello was sentenced in Houston to 100 months for illegally reentering the country. The sentence included 24 months for violating the terms of his supervised release following a previous conviction for the same offense. At the hearing, the court heard confirmation of his status as a member of the Tango Blast gang and about other troubling behavior which contradicted defense claims about him allegedly being a loving, family man. He was removed on two occasions and has a conviction for illegal reentry but was found in the United States in 2022 after an arrest and conviction for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and evading arrest. He has a criminal history dating back to the age of 14 including multiple burglaries/thefts of vehicles, evading arrest and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Also announced this week was a 62-year-old Alamo resident who pleaded guilty to transporting two Mexican citizens hidden under blankets on the top bunk of a tractor-trailer's sleeper cab. Authorities said Lazaro Rosendo Vega appeared abnormally loud and excited at the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint. He faces up to five years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.

Another case out of Corpus Christi federal court was a La Villa resident and repeat human smuggler who received 46 months in federal prison for conspiring to transport 27 illegal aliens, two of whom were minors. The court noted his prior convictions for bulk cash smuggling and the transportation of illegal aliens. He was also on supervised release when he committed the crime. Authorities found the illegal aliens lying on produce pallets in a refrigerated trailer set at approximately 50 degrees.

These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - Homeland Security Investigations, ICE - Enforcement and Removal Operations, Border Patrol, 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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.

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 nine 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.