Western District of Texas Files Nearly 250 Immigration Cases in First Week of March

SAN ANTONIO – Acting United States Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas announced today, that federal prosecutors in the district filed 240 new immigration-related criminal cases between March 3 and March 9—up from 153 the week prior. Of the 240 defendants, more than 160 are charged with illegally re-entering the country with the majority having felony convictions such as narcotics, violent crimes and prior immigration offenses. More than 60 face charges of illegally entering the country, six cases involve various instances of human smuggling, and the remainder relate to other immigration crimes.

Among those charged during this week were a Mexican national, who was arrested in El Pasoon criminal charges related to his alleged illegal re-entry. Clemente Galvez-Alapisco has been deported twice before, most recently June 28, 2022 after he was convicted for indecency with a child. He was also convicted of illegal re-entry in July 2019 and sentenced to five months and 11 days confinement. If convicted, Galvez-Alapisco faces up to 10 years in prison.

Also in El Paso, Mexican national Salvador Arellano-Quintero was allegedly found approximately 1.5 miles west of the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry without immigration documents allowing him to be or remain in the U.S. legally. He had been previously deported six times, the most recent being through Calexico, California on Jan. 30, 2015. Arellano-Quintero has an extensive history as a convicted felon, including a 2013 case in Santa Maria, California, in which he was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant, threatening crime with intent to terrorize, preventing/dissuading a victim/witness, and assault with a deadly weapon. In 2002, Arellano-Quintero was convicted in Santa Barbara, California, for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant and sex with a minor under the age of 16.

On March 3, a U.S. Border Patrol agent observed several individuals climb over the border fence in San Elizario, allegedly led by Mexican national David Alexis Herrera-Ramirez. A criminal complaint alleges Herrera-Ramirez was responsible for guiding illegal aliens into the U.S. and communicating with other co-conspirators over WhatsApp to arrange for pickup and further transport. Herrera-Ramirez is charged with one count of bringing in and harboring aliens.

In San Antonio, the U.S. Marshal Service Fugitive Task Force arrested Pedro Ruiz-Cisneros inside his residence on March 4. A criminal complaint alleges Ruiz-Cisneros was previously removed from the country five times as an aggravated felon—as early as April 1994 and as recently as June 2018. Ruiz-Cisneros was convicted in 1990 of second-degree robbery and sentenced to five years confinement. Less than one year later, he was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to eight years confinement. Ruiz-Cisneros was later convicted three times of illegal re-entry and sentenced to a total of 133 months in federal prison between 2007 and 2016.

Jaime Aguilar-Guerrero was arrested on March 3 by local law enforcement in Belton for public intoxication. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement determined Aguilar-Guerrero was a Mexican national who had been previously removed from the United States in July 2016. Additionally, on April 11, 1996, Aguilar-Guerrero had been sentenced to seven years confinement for intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle. He was transferred into federal custody and faces up to 10 years in federal prison, if convicted for illegal re-entry.

A Mexican national was arrested near Dryden on March 6, after he was previously removed through Del Rio as recently as Jan. 21. Miguel Diego-Mateo has been deported from the U.S. six times and has two DUI convictions in addition to two convictions for illegal re-entry.

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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