Source: US FBI
SAN ANTONIO – Acting United States Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas announced today, that federal prosecutors in the district filed 295 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from May 9 through May 15.
Among the new cases, Mexican nationals Juan Jose Medrano-Escobedo and Rosendo Dominguez-Morales were arrested after allegedly entering the U.S. illegally through the Texas National Defense Area (Tx-NDA) less than half a mile west of the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso. Medrano-Escobedo has been previously removed from the U.S. to Mexico twice, most recently July 30, 2024. He has been convicted of three felonies, including evading arrest in 2017 and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in November 2023. Dominguez-Morales was last removed on Aug. 20, 2024, following an Aug. 18, 2024 felony conviction for assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. Medrano-Escobedo and Dominguez-Morales are each charged with two counts related to violating defense property security regulation and one count of illegal re-entry.
Also in El Paso, two U.S. citizens are charged with conspiracy to transport illegal aliens after being arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Fabens. Jared Isai Ramirez and Jesus Alberto Soriano, driving separate vehicles, allegedly attempted to flee from USBP. A criminal complaint alleges Ramirez lost control of his vehicle and collided into a rock wall. He and four passengers allegedly exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot before being apprehended. The four passengers were determined to be illegal aliens and were transported with Ramirez to the Clint Border Patrol Station for further investigation. Soriano eventually stopped the vehicle he was driving and was also transported to the Clint Border Patrol Station. The criminal complaint alleges that Ramirez admitted that he would be paid $300 for each of the four illegal aliens he was transporting. Soriano allegedly stated that he had agreed to scout the area for law enforcement during the smuggling scheme.
A Mexican national was encountered at the Bastrop County Jail and charged with illegal re-entry in Austin. Elisandro Enriquez-Sanchez has been removed from the U.S. to Mexico four times in addition to a voluntary return. He had been arrested in Bastrop and charged with driving while intoxicated with an open alcohol container. Enriquez-Sanchez’s lengthy criminal record includes two convictions for illegal re-entry as well as taking a weapon from an officer, assault causing bodily injury to a family member, and three DWIs in a two-year span.
In Presidio County, Honduran national Angel Daniel Vasquez was arrested and charged with illegal re-entry. Vasquez has four prior removals, the last one being to Honduras May 27, 2024. He’s also a twice-convicted felon with a criminal record that includes assault causing bodily injury in Nashville, Tennessee in 2023 and a 2015 illegal re-entry conviction in Phoenix, Arizona. He was also convicted of a misdemeanor in Nashville for driving under the influence in April 2024.
These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).
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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