Second week of December sees another 293 people charged in border security-related matters in the Southern District of Texas (DOJ)

HOUSTON - A total of 294 cases have been filed related to immigration and border security from Dec. 5-11, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

A total of 87 people face charges of illegal entry, while another 182 face charges of felony reentry after removal. Most have felony convictions for narcotics, violent crime, immigration crimes and more. The filed cases also include 22 individuals accused of engaging in human smuggling and the remaining two charges involve assaults on federal officers.

As part of the new filed complaints, two Mexican nationals have been charged with illegal reentry into the country. Authorities had just removed Josadad De La Cruz-Perez in April but found him near Rio Grande City this week, according to the charges. A separate case alleges law enforcement discovered Jose Yuriel Tovias-Alvarez near McAllen. According to their complaints, both men have prior felonies - De La Cruz-Perez for illegal reentry, while Tovias-Alvarez had served a substantial prison sentence for possession with intent to distribute kilogram quantities of cocaine. If convicted for the new illegal reentry charges, they each face up to 20 years in federal prison.

In addition to the new cases, the leader and organizer of an alien smuggling ring in Laredo was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison. At the hearing, the court heard how Laredo resident Juan De Dios Aguero recruited drivers and set abandoned vehicles on fire to distract law enforcement. On Aug. 6, 2024, authorities at a Border Patrol checkpoint near Freer discovered 35 illegal aliens, including three unaccompanied minors, sealed inside a tractor-trailer with a temperature of nearly 100 degrees. Many suffered from heat exhaustion. The investigation revealed Aguero organized the failed smuggling event by driving co-defendant Mateo Guerra to a truck lot and helping Guerra steal the tractor trailer utilized in the operation. Aguero also rented the U-Haul used to move the aliens from a stash house. Authorities further connected Aguero to two additional failed alien-smuggling attempts in October 2023 and February 2024 that involved 28 and 11 illegal aliens, respectively.

These cases were 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 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 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.