New year, same commitment to border enforcement: Southern District charges 201 individuals

HOUSTON – The first full week of 2026 has resulted in 200 filed cases related to immigration and border security, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

From Jan. 2-8, a total of 117 people have been charged with felony reentry after removal, and another 70 face allegations of illegal entry. Most have felony convictions for narcotics, violent crime, various immigration crimes and more. The filed cases also include nine individuals accused of human smuggling, while the remaining matters involve firearms and other immigration-related crimes.

One of those charged is Mexican national Daniel Enrique Rangel-Quezada. According to the criminal complaint, authorities discovered him near Garciasville in possession of a firearm and with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Not a U.S. citizen, he is prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Other criminal complaints allege several illegal aliens unlawfully reentered the United States in the past week. Two of those men - Mexican nationals Juan Dimas-Sosa and Audelio Rios-Castillo – had been removed from the country in August 2024 and June 2025, respectively. However, law enforcement allegedly encountered both in the McAllen area. Rios-Castillo has a prior conviction for illegal reentry, while Dimas-Sosa had been convicted of human smuggling, according to the allegations. They could receive up to 20 years in prison if convicted of felony reentry after removal.

In addition to the new cases, a Laredo felon has been ordered to federal prison for 10 years in a cartel-linked conspiracy to smuggle hundreds of illegal aliens into the country. At the sentencing hearing, the court heard additional evidence as to the prolific scope of Danny Nunez’s leadership of the large-scale human smuggling organization that served as a “one-stop shop” for all the necessary actions to harbor and smuggle illegal aliens on the United States side of the border. Nunez worked directly with Cartel del Noreste to smuggle over 1,900 aliens which resulted in a substantial amount of illicit profits for both the CDN and Nunez. In handing down the sentence, the court noted the sophistication of the operation, commenting that this was the largest number of aliens smuggled and the most prolific smuggler she had seen. 

These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement - 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.

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 histories, including convictions for 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.