A total of 352 cases involving 356 individuals were filed in the Southern District of Texas from August 29 to September 4, according to U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei. The charges relate to various immigration and border security offenses.
Among those charged, 21 people are accused of human smuggling. There are also charges against 194 individuals for illegal entry and another 140 for felony reentry after prior removal. Many defendants have previous felony convictions for crimes such as narcotics offenses, violent crime, and other immigration violations. One case this week involves an alleged assault on a law enforcement officer.
Three Guatemalan nationals were extradited in connection with a fatal incident in Chiapas, Mexico, in 2021 that resulted in over 50 deaths and more than 100 injuries when a tractor-trailer carrying at least 160 migrants crashed. The suspects—Tomas Quino Canil, Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, and Josefa Quino Canil De Zavala—were arrested last December in Guatemala and appeared in Laredo on September 4. If convicted of conspiracy to bring illegal aliens into the United States resulting in death, they could face life imprisonment.
Attorney General Pam Bondi commented on the significance of these extraditions and highlighted the costs associated with human smuggling.
U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei stated: “Human smugglers do not care if the people they transport live or die,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei of the Southern District of Texas. “They do not care if unaccompanied children have food, water, or even air to breathe. They respect neither the law nor basic principles of decency. They care for only one thing—the blood money they make from the suffering of others. But these extraditions show that the United States will never tire in pursuing them. There is no border, no refuge that can shield these criminals from justice.”
Other recent cases include an alleged assault by Mexican national Jesus Gabriel De Lira-Villapando on a Border Patrol agent during an attempted arrest on September 2; he faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.
Four foreign nationals—Pedro Sandoval and Leobardo Reyes-Gonzalez from Mexico and Ricardo Mauricio Cruz-Najera and Winston Churchill Grant-Mesen from Honduras—are accused of attempting unlawful reentry after being removed earlier this year; all reportedly have prior convictions including drug possession or evading arrest.
Mexican national Juan Antonio Ruiz-Gutierrez was found near Penitas after previously being removed in April 2013; he has a conviction for indecency with child sexual contact.
If convicted of felony illegal reentry after removal, these five individuals face up to twenty years’ imprisonment.
In Brownsville, Daniel Antonio Varcenas-Aguilar pleaded guilty to unlawful reentry following his discovery by law enforcement on July 12; he has a previous conviction for aggravated assault of a child and awaits sentencing in November with a potential sentence up to twenty years.
In Laredo, Marco Cupil-Hernandez received a fifteen-month federal prison sentence for assaulting a Border Patrol agent who was trying to assist him after his illegal entry into the country.
These prosecutions involve cooperation among multiple agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), Border Patrol, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as well as state and local partners.
The cases fall under Operation Take Back America—a Department of Justice initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration as well as transnational criminal organizations through coordinated efforts across several task forces such as Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
The Southern District prioritizes public safety through enhanced enforcement both at its borders and within its jurisdictional interior areas—a region covering forty-three counties over forty-four thousand square miles with more than nine million residents served by seven divisional offices working alongside federal, state, and local authorities.
An indictment or criminal complaint is not evidence but rather an accusation; all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty through due process.
