Felons, illegal aliens, smugglers, and more charged in 245 SDTX cases as part of recent border enforcement efforts

HOUSTON - Another 248 people have been charged, including 227 illegal aliens, in 245 cases involving immigration and border security-related crimes from Aug. 21-27.

A total of 172 criminal complaints were filed for felony reentry after prior removal, while another 43 people face charges of illegal entry. Most of those illegal aliens have prior felonies such as narcotics, violent crime, immigration offenses, and more. In addition, 26 people have been charged with human smuggling which includes 12 illegal aliens themselves. The remaining seven cases relate to other immigration crimes.

One of the charged illegal aliens is a Guatemalan male with a prior conviction for sexual assault of a child, according to the allegations. Law enforcement allegedly discovered Cesar Augusto Sanchez-Cristales near Roma, despite the fact he had been removed from the country in 2017. Four others, all Mexican nationals, were also allegedly found in the McAllen area. Eduardo Hernandez-Sanchez, Wilber Torres-Herrera, Agustin Yanez-Reynaga, and Francisco Giovanni Garcia-Hernandez had also been previously removed and have prior convictions for conspiracy to distribute cocaine or other controlled substances, multiple driving while intoxicated convictions, or burglary, according to the new criminal complaints against them.

If convicted of the new felony illegal reentry into the United States, each faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

In addition to the new cases, a Laredo woman was sentenced in a failed attempt to smuggler a toddler into the United States. Anahi Rosas tried to use her own child's Texas birth certificate and falsely claimed the unknown three-year-old boy was her son. At secondary inspection, the boy told authorities Rosas was not his mother and that he did not know where his parents were. At the sentencing hearing, the court heard that Rosas planned to leave the toddler with an unknown smuggler without knowing where the child would be taken. She was ordered to serve 36 months in federal prison.

In Brownsville, a 36-year-old illegal alien from Matamoros, Mexico, received a 63-month sentence for unlawfully being in the United States after prior deportation. Omar Navarro-Hinojosa had been the passenger in a vehicle that was traveling at a high rate of speed. He attempted to flee on foot after the driver stopped the vehicle when law enforcement conducted a traffic stop. Authorities quickly took him into custody. Navarro-Hinojosa admitted he paid $3,000 to be smuggled into the United States. While awaiting sentencing, he was also involved in physical altercation with another inmate which resulted in medical treatment for both men. Because of this incident, he did not receive credit for acceptance of responsibility for the illegal reentry conviction at the time of sentencing, which resulted in the over five-year prison sentence.

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

Under current leadership, public safety and a secure border are the top priorities for the Southern 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.