Western District of Texas U.S. Attorney Announces More Than 150 Immigration Cases Filed in Final Week of February

SAN ANTONIO – Acting United States Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas announced today, that federal prosecutors in the district filed 153 immigration-related criminal cases between Feb. 24 and March 3. The following defendants are among those charged during this week:

A Mexican national was arrested in El Paso on criminal charges related to his alleged illegal re-entry. Jaime Perez Salinas was allegedly located without immigration documents that allowed him to be or remain in the country legally. Salinas has been removed from the U.S. twice before, the most recent removal being Dec. 27, 2024. He was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to 60 months in prison for distribution of 50 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine. If convicted of the illegal re-entry charge, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

Honduran national Oscar Adrian Vasquez-Peraza was arrested after he was allegedly found approximately 1.69 miles west of the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry without immigration documents allowing him to be or remain in the U.S. legally. Vasquez-Peraza was convicted in January 2021 for robbery in Houston and deported to Honduras in June 2022.

Rene Garibay-Robledo was arrested on Feb. 25 in San Antonio during a traffic stop on criminal charges related to his alleged possession of a firearm as an illegal alien. Garibay-Robledo is a Mexican national who allegedly presented FBI agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers a Mexico ID and allegedly stated he lacked legal status to be in the United States. Additionally, the criminal complaint alleges Garibay-Robledo stated that he had one firearm—a pistol—at his house. During the execution of a federal search warrant at Garibay-Robledo’s home, three handguns, a semi-automatic CZ Scorpion EVO 3, approximately 450 rounds of mixed caliber ammunition, and 6.8 grams of a substance that tested positive for cocaine were seized. Garibay-Robledo faces up to 15 years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, if convicted.

A criminal complaint filed in San Antonio alleges that Kevin Raul Corniel-Rodriguez is a Venezuelan national affiliated with the Tren De Aragua (TDA) Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) organization. Corniel-Rodriguez was arrested by the San Antonio Police Department on Dec. 24, 2024, for assault of a pregnant person and unlawful carry of a weapon. State charges were dismissed on Feb. 25. Corniel-Rodriguez was released into federal custody and charged with one count of illegal alien in possession of a firearm.

On Feb. 28, Simon Alexander Mendez, of Austin, was arrested near Eagle Pass during a U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoint vehicle inspection. USBP agents allegedly discovered an illegal alien in the trunk of the vehicle Mendez was driving. A criminal complaint alleges Mendez was transporting the illegal alien from Eagle Pass to San Antonio. He was previously convicted for the same offense in 2021, when he was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison with credit for time served for conspiring to transport two illegal aliens to Austin. On that occasion, Mendez’s human smuggling attempt was prevented by USBP agents in Uvalde.

On Feb. 27, Mexican national Pedro Luis Colmenero-Rangel was arrested by USBP near Carrizo Springs. Colmenero-Rangel had been previously removed from the U.S. through Brownsville in 2019. Prior to his deportation, he was convicted in the Southern District of Texas and sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for his role in an alien smuggling conspiracy.

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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