Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck announced that the Southern District of Texas filed 271 cases involving immigration and border security-related crimes from May 15-21.
Of those cases, 249 illegal aliens were charged with unlawfully being in the United States, including 67 for illegal entry and 182 for illegal reentry. Most of these individuals have previous convictions for narcotics offenses, immigration violations, violent crimes, or other offenses. The filings also include 19 cases involving alleged human smuggling, with the remaining cases related to other immigration crimes.
One case involves truck driver Juan Nasario-Reyes, who was arrested following an alleged human smuggling attempt. According to the complaint, on May 16 Nasario-Reyes arrived at a checkpoint and stated that his vehicle was empty. A K-9 alert prompted further inspection, during which officers discovered four illegal aliens in the cab and 38 additional illegal aliens in the trailer. The trailer had been latched shut from the outside, with an internal temperature of approximately 92.5 degrees. Thirteen of the smuggled individuals face illegal entry or reentry charges, while the others are expected to be removed from the country.
Three additional complaints involve Mexican nationals found unlawfully in the United States. Santos Rivera-Garcia has a prior felony illegal reentry conviction and was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison in 2022. He was removed on April 24 of this year but was located near Mission less than a month later. Faustino Soto was arrested near Escobares, and Genaro Perez-Alonso was arrested near Mission. Both have prior narcotics convictions and had served sentences of at least 10 years before their previous removals. Each of the three faces charges that could result in up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
Federal juries returned guilty verdicts in two illegal reentry trials. In Houston, a jury deliberated for less than 30 minutes before convicting Eduardo Aguilera-Gallardo. Testimony showed that authorities located him in Houston after a deportation officer had escorted him across the border in Laredo following his removal. Aguilera-Gallardo claimed he had been kidnapped and forced to return, but neither he nor his family reported the alleged kidnapping to law enforcement.
In Corpus Christi, a jury deliberated for less than 10 minutes before convicting Jose Leandro Juarez-Rivas. He was identified on a commercial bus on February 18 without legal authorization to be in the country. The defense argued that Juarez-Rivas was unaware of his removal order and reentry ban. The jury rejected that claim.
In a separate Houston case, Jose Angel Martinez Menjivar, an illegal alien from El Salvador with prior convictions for illegal reentry and indecent assault, was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison for unlawful reentry. He was removed in 2022 and located again in Houston on July 9, 2025.
The cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including ICE Homeland Security Investigations, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with state and local agencies.
The prosecutions are part of Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative focused on immigration enforcement, cartel disruption, and public safety. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas covers 43 counties and more than 10 million people across 44,000 square miles. Assistant U.S. Attorneys in its seven divisions—Houston, Galveston, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, McAllen, and Laredo—handle these cases in coordination with law enforcement partners.
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