Federal Prosecutors Continue to File Hundreds of Weekly Immigration Cases in Western District of Texas

SAN ANTONIO - Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 235 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from August 14 through August 20, announced U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons. Charges were brought against several alleged alien smugglers and illegal aliens with past convictions for numerous DWIs, violent crimes, thefts, and multiple prior removals.

Among the new cases, U.S. citizen Pablo Clark-Guillen was arrested and charged with alien smuggling. A criminal complaint alleges that Clark-Guillen, who has previously been convicted for alien smuggling, conspired to pick up an illegal alien from India in Fabens on August 18. The complaint alleges that when agents approached Clark-Guillen and ordered him to turn off his van, Clark-Guillen complied but broke his phone in an effort to destroy evidence, cutting his hands in the process. In addition to his prior smuggling conviction in 2024, Clark-Guillen has three prior DWI convictions.

Also on August 18, U.S. Border Patrol agents investigating two separate alien smuggling events followed a vehicle to a residence in El Paso. The agents conducted an immigration inspection and confirmed that the driver, Aldo David Manjarrez-Vazquez, was an illegal alien. A criminal complaint alleges that Manjarrez-Vazquez had worked as an alien pickup driver and coordinator since March 2024, receiving approximately $720 per alien he picked up and making $250 as a coordinator. Manjarrez-Vazquez is alleged to have picked up and transported more than 10 illegal aliens in the El Paso and Tornillo areas.

Jesus Gamboa-Chavez, an illegal alien from Mexico, was charged with alien smuggling after a Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) trooper conducted a traffic stop and requested assistance from Homeland Security Investigations. A criminal complaint alleges that further investigation led agents to a stash house in El Paso that Gamboa-Chavez was renting. A joint operation with HSI, USBP, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, and TXDPS, resulted in the apprehension of 16 illegal aliens from various Central and South American countries, two of whom were minor children. One of the children was unaccompanied.

In Del Rio, USBP agents arrested Luis Alfredo Navarette-Pastrana, an illegal alien from Mexico, who was just deported for the second time in June following a conviction for illegal entry. In 2020, Navarette-Pastrana was convicted for driving without a license and reckless homicide. Alejandro Diaz-Martinez, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested in El Indio and charged with illegal re-entry. He was convicted in March for his third DWI and sentenced to a two-year imprisonment. He was then deported on July 5.

Illegal alien from Guatemala Ronald Samuel Lapop-Galicia, aka Ronald Carbajal, was transferred into ICE custody after being found in Travis County. Lapop-Galicia has five prior removals in his immigration history and has been previously convicted of four DWIs. He is charged with illegal re-entry.

Mario Daniel Campos-Segura was also found in Travis County and transferred into ICE custody. Campos-Segura is an illegal alien from Mexico who has been removed from the U.S. twice and has been twice convicted of DWI. Campos-Segura is charged with illegal re-entry.

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.

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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