Over 200 New Federal Immigration Cases Filed in Western District of Texas

SAN ANTONIO – Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 209 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from Jan. 16 to Jan. 22, announced U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons. Charges were brought against human smugglers and illegal aliens with past convictions for violent crimes, DWIs, and multiple prior removals.

Among the new cases, German Rodriguez-Hernandez allegedly attempted to run an ICE-Enforcement and Removal Operations vehicle off the road during the officer’s pursuit of another vehicle in Austin on Jan. 12. A criminal complaint alleges that after ICE-ERO successfully stopped the vehicle they were pursuing, the ICE-ERO officer was exiting his vehicle when Rodriguez-Hernandez intentionally veered his vehicle from its traffic lane into the driver’s side door of the ICE-ERO vehicle, nearly ripping the door off in the collision. The officer was able to avoid injury, but Rodriguez-Hernandez allegedly fled the scene at a high rate of speed. Immigration records confirmed that Rodriguez-Hernandez was illegally present in the U.S. He was arrested on Jan. 22 and charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer.

Julio Leal, a U.S. citizen, was charged with alien smuggling in El Paso. A criminal complaint alleges Leal picked up five illegal aliens east of the Tornillo Port of Entry and was stopped by U.S. Border Patrol on Texas Highway 20 in Hudspeth County. USBP agents allegedly observed that the five aliens were muddy and attempting to conceal themselves in the backseat of Leal’s vehicle. The complaint further alleges that Leal was hired to transport the aliens to a stash house and was going to be paid $800 for each individual he picked up.

Fernando Javier Marin, also a U.S. citizen, faces alien smuggling charges after he was stopped by a USBP agent in Tornillo on Jan. 19. A criminal complaint alleges that Marin fled on foot during the traffic stop, and four illegal aliens also exited his vehicle. Marin was allegedly located trying to conceal himself inside an irrigation culvert and was arrested. Marin was previously convicted for bringing in and harboring aliens in September 2023, for which he was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.

Mexican national Cristino Rodriguez-Toribio was arrested for illegal re-entry on Jan. 20. A criminal complaint alleges Rodriguez-Toribio was the driver of a van that entered the immigration inspection lane at the Sierra Blanca Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 10, and did not have immigration documents allowing him to be or remain in the United States legally. Rodriguez-Toribio was previously removed from the U.S. to Mexico in 2018 through Nogales, Arizona. He has two prior DUI convictions as well as a conviction for driving without a license.

Mexican national Mario Galan-Cruz was also charged with illegal re-entry after he was allegedly found approximately one mile east of the Tornillo Port of Entry. Galan-Cruz was removed from the U.S. to Mexico for the third time in November 2025. In October 2025, he was convicted in Michigan for assault with a dangerous weapon.

Mexican national Cirenio Hernandez Guillen was charged with illegal re-entry in Austin, having been previously removed from the U.S. two time in addition to three voluntary returns. Hernandez Guillen has four prior DWI convictions and one conviction for aggravated assault with a domestic weapon.

Moises Amezquita-Mendoza, also a Mexican national, was arrested near Val Verde for being an alien illegally present in the U.S. Amezquita-Mendoza was removed to Mexico for the third time in October 2025 following a DWI conviction.

These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the 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.

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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