Source: US FBI
HOUSTON – A total of 287 new cases have been filed in the last week related to immigration, border security and related offenses, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
The filed cases include 14 involving human smuggling. A total of 142 people are charged with illegally entering the country, while another 127 face charges of felony reentry after prior removal. Most of those individuals have prior felony convictions for offenses involving narcotics, domestic violence and other violent crime, immigration violations and more. Other relevant cases charged this week relate to fraud and other immigration crimes.
Criminal complaints allege four individuals attempted to unlawfully reenter the country within six months of their most recent removals. Mexican nationals Adolfo Omar Maldonado-Ortiz and Aureliano Baeza-Martinez were previously removed July 9 and July 12, respectively, according to court records. Authorities removed Colombian national Luis Fernando Diaz-Caicedo March 12, while Honduran national Yermin Bardales-Castro was removed April 6. Each allegedly has prior felony convictions, including burglary of habitation, robbery with a deadly weapon, criminal sexual conduct with a minor or possession of a controlled substance. All four were allegedly found in the United States without legal authorization and now face up to 20 years in federal prison, if convicted.
Charges also allege Carlos Guadalupe Salazar-Gonzalez and Walfre Patricio Hernandez-Mazariegos committed illegal reentry after having been previously removed in 2020 and 2024, respectively. Law enforcement allegedly encountered both in Edinburg.
In addition to the new cases, a notable sentencing occurred in Laredo when 25-year-old Laredo resident Salma Galilea Veliz was ordered to serve 36 months for attempting to smuggle a three-year-old Mexican child into the United States using her own son’s birth certificate. Authorities encountered Veliz at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge with the child, whom she falsely claimed was her son. She later admitted to picking up the boy in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and planning to pass him off as her biological son in exchange for $2,500. Evidence presented at trial confirmed the child was a Mexican citizen with no legal claim to enter the United States. A federal jury found Veliz guilty following a two-day trial earlier this year.
“We may never know who or what awaited that three-year-old boy had he been successfully smuggled across the border. What is certain, however, is that no child’s safety or well-being has a price tag. The Southern District of Texas will not hesitate to prosecute those who illegally bring children into the United States by falsely claiming family ties,” said Ganjei. “Also, a word of warning – if you put a child, even if it’s your own, into the hands of smugglers, you will be prosecuted. Return home to them; don’t endanger your children by placing their lives in the hands of people you don’t know.”
Also of note were the sentencings of three known felons who had illegally reentered the country. Ivan Lopez-Sonora and Gregorio Mendoza-Martinez received their respective 57- and 30-month sentences in Brownsville. Lopez-Sonora has a criminal history including convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, deadly conduct discharging a firearm and numerous convictions for immigration violations, while Mendoza-Martinez has a burglary conviction in addition to a previous illegal reentry charge. In Houston, Jose Maldonado-Vasquez was ordered to serve an 84-month sentence. He has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2008 with convictions for possession of a controlled substance, burglary, assault and evading arrest in addition to other immigration violations and three previous removals.
These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – 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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood.
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 history, including 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.