A Mexican national living illegally in the United States was sentenced on April 14 to 27 years in federal prison for trafficking methamphetamine in the Eastern District of Texas, according to U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs.
Israel Sanchez Arciga, age 48, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture and distribute, as well as possession with intent to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III handed down a sentence of 324 months.
Court information showed that Arciga and others imported liquid methamphetamine from Mexico, completed its manufacturing process in Texas, and then distributed large quantities of highly pure methamphetamine throughout the region. Arciga was also found with a firearm at the time of his arrest on July 14, 2023 outside a conversion lab in Rice, Texas where he lived.
The case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159: Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The task force brings together government agencies to target criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational organizations, and human smuggling operations within the United States and abroad. The initiative places special emphasis on crimes involving children and uses all available legal tools to prosecute violent criminal aliens.
The investigation involved several agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration; Rockwall County Sheriff’s Office; Flower Mound Police Department; Garland Police Department; Hunt County Sheriff’s Office; with additional support from the Texas Department of Public Service and Navarro County Sheriff’s Office.
