Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
SAN ANTONIO – United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas Justin R. Simmons announced today that federal prosecutors in the district filed 176 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from July 24 through July 31, 2025.
In one such case, Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers requested assistance from El Paso Border Patrol Agents after receiving information from a concerned citizen about an apartment possibly being used to house illegal aliens. After agents arrived at the residence to perform an investigatory inquiry, an individual later identified as Jose Alfredo MACIAS-Mendoza answered the door and the agents encountered a total of 12 individuals in the apartment. All 12 individuals stated they were in the United States illegally. It was determined that MACIAS was being paid by an organization to oversee and harbor the illegal aliens and he was charged with alien smuggling. Records reveal that MACIAS himself had previously been deported from El Paso to Mexico on April 19, 2024.
Jose REYNA-Aguilera was encountered at the El Paso County Detention Facility by a Deportation Officer assigned to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Criminal Apprehension Program. Record checks revealed that REYNA is a citizen and national of Mexico without immigration documents allowing him to remain in the United States. REYNA’s immigration records established that he had been removed from the United States to Mexico on three prior occasions and was previously convicted of illegal reentry in October 2009 and April of 2011.
Deportation Officers encountered Daniel NAVA-Morales at the El Paso County Detention Facility. Immigration records reveal that he was illegally in the country having first been removed from the U.S. to Mexico on August 4, 1998. That removal order has been re-instated 6 times with NAVA last being removed to Mexico on January 18, 2024. His criminal history includes convictions for illegal entry in 1999 and 2021, where he was sentenced to 3 years probation each time, and impersonating a United States Citizen, where he was sentenced to 11 months imprisonment in 2007. He is being charged once again with illegal reentry.
In Del Rio, Texas, Azaraias Prudencio ALVARADO-Almendarez, a Honduran national who had previously been convicted of a sex offense against a child in Florida, was charged with illegal reentry. ALVARADO has a criminal history beginning in 2007 with convictions for burglary and two “hit and runs,” one of which was a felony resulting in injury. ALVARADO has been deported 3 times, the last time being to Honduras on June 21, 2024.
El Salvadoran National Celso RIVAS-Gonzalez was arrested by Border Patrol Agents on July 26, 2025, for illegal reentry. RIVAS has two prior removals from the United States and a criminal history that includes aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2020, harassment in 2021, and felony indecency with a child – sexual contact in 2024. RIVAS has been deported twice, the last time being on February 19, 2025.
Katia Yolanda SOLANO-Alvarenga, a native and citizen of Honduras, was found 3.29 miles west of Paso Del Norte Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas without documents allowing entry or residence in the United States. SOLANO was previously deported on October 7, 2024. Additionally, SOLANO was convicted and confined for 300 days for assault causing bodily injury in Dallas Texas, on March 28, 2003.
Honduran citizen Marcos Josue BANEGAS-Castro was found at the 7300 block of Alameda Avenue in El Paso Texas. It was determined that he was in the United States illegally without immigration documents. It was further determined that BANEGAS had previously been deported to Honduras on March 14, 2025.
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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