SDTX files a whopping 372 new cases this week as part of ongoing Operation Take Back America efforts

HOUSTON – A total of 376 people have been charged from Aug. 15-21 in continuing efforts to secure the southern border, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

The filed cases include 18 people allegedly involved in human smuggling. A total of 206 more are charged with illegally entering the country, while another 150 face charges of felony reentry after removal. Most of those foreign nationals have prior felonies involving narcotics, violent crime, immigration offenses and more. Other relevant cases charged this week relate to other immigration crimes.

One of those charged this week in Laredo includes Kenneth Gamboa. On Aug. 15, Gamboa allegedly drove a box truck hiding 40 illegal aliens to a Border Patrol checkpoint in Jim Hogg County. The investigation revealed a false wall in the storage area of the vehicle that had created a hidden compartment, according to the complaint. The charges allege it had multiple boards screwed shut to prevent the individuals from being able to get out on their own. A total of 26 of the illegal aliens are now also charged with illegal reentry after removal. Gamboa faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of human smuggling.

A McAllen criminal complaint charges four more people, two of whom are illegal aliens themselves, for their alleged involvement in an alien smuggling ring in Hidalgo County. Rio Grande Valley residents Enrique Gonzalez and Rigoberto Esteban Perez-Cruz and Mexican nationals Erick Vallejo-Zapata and Mirza Garcia-Zapata allegedly harbored illegal aliens at residences. Gonzalez, Vallejo-Zapata and Garcia-Zapata are also alleged to have transported the aliens, who were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and India, and who face their own immigration charges as a result of the investigation.

Another illegal alien facing charges this week is Mexican national Carlos Alberto Garza-Garcia, who authorities allegedly discovered unlawfully in the United States near Hidalgo. According to court documents, he was previously removed just this year - May 29 - and has a prior conviction for illegal reentry.       

Criminal complaints also allege Mexican nationals Magdaleno Valadez-Ortiz, Luis Gustavo Ramos-Ibarra and Esvan Gonzalez-Manzano had been previously removed from the country on various dates between 2018-2023. However, all were allegedly found in the Rio Grande Valley this week. Gonzalez-Manzano has a prior conviction for illegal reentry, while Valadez-Ortiz and Ramos-Ibarra both have prior convictions of drug-related crimes, according to their charges.  

If convicted of felony illegal reentry after removal as charged, all four face up to 20 years in prison. 

In addition to the new cases, Honduran national Elmer Leonel Ramos-Agurcia was sentenced to federal prison after assaulting law enforcement agents as he attempted to unlawfully enter the country. On April 15, he arrived at the Brownsville & Matamoros port of entry. He did not have any documentation and was denied entry. He tackled an agent and ran towards the bridge where he jumped over the fence towards the Rio Grande. Authorities conducted a foot pursuit. As they attempted to arrest him, Ramos-Agurcia bit one agent and reached for the other’s holster. The court ordered he serve 18 months in prison and warned him his sentence would increase if he reentered illegally and committed further crimes.

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 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.