Texas – Between July 3 and July 10, federal prosecutors in Texas filed 236 new immigration-related cases. This is a substantial rise in legal action connected to border security and unlawful entrance. U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei made the announcement. He highlighted that the federal government continues to attempt to stop immigration violations as part of a larger campaign.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas said that a lot of these new cases—106 in total—are about people who were deported and then tried to come back into the U.S. illegally. A lot of the people who are being charged have already been convicted of felonies, which makes the legal stakes higher if they are found guilty.
Also, 116 people have been charged with entering the country illegally, and six others are accused of smuggling people. The rest of the cases are for different types of immigration crimes, which shows how hard it is to enforce the law along the southern border.
Two of the accused are Mexican citizens, Charlie Ruben Ortiz-Lopez and Mauricio Rivera-Medina. Both have been caught entering the country illegally before. After being deported in November 2023, Rivera-Medina was caught near Edinburg. Jose Eduardo Escobar-Reyes, a Honduran citizen, was found near Roma after being deported in March. If found guilty, each of these individuals could spend up to 20 years in federal prison.
Jason Al Venecia from Rio Grande City was given a two-year prison sentence for trying to help an unauthorized immigrant cross the border. Court records show that Venecia attempted to get the individual through the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint while he was with his girlfriend and her little daughter. He was arrested helping with a second smuggling attempt even after being released on bail. Later, his girlfriend admitted responsibility in a different case that was connected to his.
The Department of Justice’s “Operation Take Back America” is a statewide effort to stop illegal immigration and break up criminal networks that cross borders. All of these prosecutions are part of that effort. The project requires working together with several government agencies, such as the FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Southern District of Texas, which covers 43 counties and has a population of over nine million, remains one of the busiest places in the country for enforcing immigration laws.
