SAN ANTONIO – Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 187 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from Feb. 27 to March 5, 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, Mexican national Erick Eduardo Carillo-Fierro was charged with illegal re-entry after being arrested by USBP agents near Val Verde.
His first deportation was Feb. 6, but he has been convicted three times in California. In 2009, Carillo-Fierro was sentenced to 15 years and 8 months in prison for carjacking and fleeing with a weapon from a pursuing officer. While serving that sentence in 2011, he was convicted for manufacturing a weapon in prison. In 2022, he was convicted for possessing narcotics, drugs, or alcohol in prison.U.S.
Border Patrol agents arrested Mexican national Jorge Salinas-Cabrera near Kinney on Monday. Salinas-Cabrera is charged with illegal re-entry after being previously deported four times, the most recent being on Aug. 16, 2025. In addition to a 2013 illegal re-entry conviction, his criminal history includes two convictions for assault causing bodily injury, one conviction for driving while intoxicated, and one for evading arrest.Mexican national Luis Fidel Leos-Angel was encountered at the Bexar County Jail in January after he was arrested for assault causing bodily injury to a family member and evading arrest. He was released from the jail on Tuesday and transported to ICE Enforcement Removal Operations San Antonio for processing.
Leos-Angel’s criminal history revealed he was previously convicted of aiding and abetting the transportation of an unlawful alien and sentenced to 18 months in prison.In Austin, a Guatemalan national was arrested for a supervised release violation after serving a 27-month federal prison sentence. Freyman Mejia-Vasquez has been removed from the U.S. seven times, and his criminal record includes interfering with an emergency call, a DWI, and assault causing bodily injury.Salvadoran national Oscar Enrique Ramos-Tepas is charged in Austin with illegal re-entry, having been previously removed from the U.S. twice. In 2024, he was convicted for assault impeding breath or circulation and tampering with evidence with intent to impair. Ramos-Tepas has also been convicted of a DWI, two violations of a protective order and two additional assaults causing bodily injury.Mexican national Miguel Angel Torres-Rueda aka Everado Torres-Rueda was found in the Travis County Jail and detained by ICE.
Torres-Rueda has been deported twice. His prior convictions include two DWIs, one assault causing bodily injury, and an improper entry by an alien.Guatemalan national Efrain Celso Garcia-Pedro was found approximately 5.7 miles east of the Tornillo Port of Entry on Feb. 28. He had previously been removed on Aug. 29, 2025, four months after receiving 20 years of probation and community service in Cherokee County, Georgia for exploiting and inflicting pain to deprive essential services to a disabled or elder person.Mexican national Armando Jose-Gaspar aka Armando Pedro Juan was also arrested in El Paso after he was found near the 4000 block of Truman Avenue. Jose-Gaspar has been removed from the U.S. 10 times, the last being in December through Nogales, Arizona.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.###