U.S. Attorney’s Office Adds 281 New Immigration Cases in Western District of Texas

SAN ANTONIO - Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 281 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from May 8 to May 14, announced U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons. Charges were brought against human smugglers, alleged visa fraudsters, and illegal aliens with past convictions for numerous DWIs, violent crimes, drug trafficking, and multiple prior removals.

Among the new cases, an illegal alien from Mexico residing in Crane, south of Odessa, is charged with fraud and misuse of visas, permits and other documents. Encarnacion Lopez-Sanchez aka Ignacio Hernandez-Gomez has been wanted in Mexico for sexual assault of a minor. Lopez-Sanchez allegedly was admitted into the United States through Del Rio using a border crossing card that limits his entry to within 25 miles of the border. Furthermore, he allegedly obtained an I-94 immigration form with an expiration date of July 9, 2025. An investigation led to the determination that Lopez-Sanchez has been working at an energy company in Crane despite being prohibited from employment. He allegedly submitted to the company a fraudulent Employment Eligibility Verification form and a fraudulent Employee Withholding Certificate. A criminal complaint also alleges Lopez-Sanchez has sent money to sources in Mexico on several occurrences.

In El Paso, a U.S. citizen who was previously convicted at the state level and sentenced to five years in prison for smuggling of persons in 2024, is now federally charged with alien smuggling. Yovani Garcia-Cruz allegedly served as a pick-up driver in a smuggling operation that resulted in the discovery of 14 illegal aliens in a stash house earlier this year. A criminal complaint alleges that Garcia-Cruz sent proof of life videos of illegal aliens to another individual and has smuggled aliens into the United States on at least three occasions.

Erik Rangel-Martinez, an illegal alien from Mexico, was charged with alien smuggling after allegedly attempting to escape back into Mexico with 11 other illegal aliens approximately a mile and a half east of the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry in El Paso. A criminal complaint alleges that Rangel-Martinez was expecting to be paid $100 to help smuggle illegal aliens into the United States using a ladder at the international border fence.

A criminal complaint alleges that, on Monday, Jaime Rodriguez-Corral presented himself to be a United States citizen to Customs and Border Protection in the pedestrian lane at the Bridge of the Americas POE. Rodriguez-Corral allegedly stated he was on his way home to Nebraska and presented a Mexican driver's license and U.S. Consulate request sheet. The CBP officer, noticing that the documents lacked a proof of citizenship, processed system queries and received an alert. Further investigation revealed Rodriguez-Corral to be a Mexican citizen previously removed from the United States in May 2020. A felon, his criminal record includes convictions for possession of a fraudulent identification card and multiple assaults.

In Guadalupe County, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper conducted a traffic stop on Santiago Florencio Velazquez-Tobon, who was allegedly driving without a license. According to a criminal complaint affidavit, the trooper requested assistance from San Antonio ICE Enforcement Removal Operations to positively identify a suspected foreign national. The immigration record check showed that Velazquez was an illegal alien from Mexico who had been previously removed in November 2014. A review of Velazquez's criminal history revealed prior convictions for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant, willful child cruelty with possible injury or death, threatening a witness, assault with a deadly weapon, and unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon. He now faces an illegal re-entry charge in San Antonio.

Erlin Omar Martinez-Carcamo was found in the Hays County Jail on March 23 and identified as an illegal alien from Honduras. ICE lodged a detainer on Martinez-Carcamo, who is now federally charged with illegal re-entry. The Honduran national has been convicted of three DWIs since 2022, along with reckless driving, bail jumping, and failure to identify.

Isaias Garcia-Reynoso, an illegal alien from Mexico who was previously deported in 2023, was found in Williamson County on May 8. In 2017, Garcia-Reynoso was convicted and sentenced to probation for deadly conduct. He was convicted of a DWI in 2022 and now faces an illegal re-entry charge in Austin.

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Christopher Jesus Carbajal-Lopez, an illegal alien from Honduras and convicted felon, near Maverick. In January 2024, Carbajal-Lopez was convicted in North Carolina for assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to 60 days of confinement before being removed to Honduras on Feb. 14, 2024. He now faces an illegal re-entry charge in Del Rio.

These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with additional assistance from state and local law enforcement partners.

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.

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.

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.

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