A total of 287 new cases related to immigration and border security offenses were filed in the Southern District of Texas during the first week of August, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
The charges include 14 cases involving human smuggling. Authorities charged 142 individuals with illegal entry into the United States, while another 127 face felony reentry charges after prior removal from the country. Many of those charged have previous felony convictions for crimes such as narcotics offenses, domestic violence, violent crime, and other immigration violations. Additional cases involve fraud and other immigration-related crimes.
Among those charged are four individuals accused of attempting to unlawfully reenter the United States within six months of their most recent removals. According to court records, Mexican nationals Adolfo Omar Maldonado-Ortiz and Aureliano Baeza-Martinez were removed on July 9 and July 12, respectively; Colombian national Luis Fernando Diaz-Caicedo was removed March 12; and Honduran national Yermin Bardales-Castro was removed April 6. Each is alleged to have prior felony convictions including burglary, robbery with a deadly weapon, criminal sexual conduct with a minor, or possession of a controlled substance. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in federal prison.
Charges also allege that Carlos Guadalupe Salazar-Gonzalez and Walfre Patricio Hernandez-Mazariegos committed illegal reentry after being previously removed in 2020 and 2024, respectively. Both were allegedly encountered by law enforcement in Edinburg.
In Laredo, Salma Galilea Veliz was sentenced to 36 months in prison for attempting to smuggle a three-year-old Mexican child into the United States using her own son’s birth certificate. Authorities stopped Veliz at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge where she falsely claimed the child was her son. She later admitted she had picked up the boy in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, intending to pass him off as her biological son for $2,500. Evidence presented at trial showed that the child was a Mexican citizen without legal claim to enter the United States. Veliz was found guilty by a federal jury following a two-day trial earlier this year.
“We may never know who or what awaited that three-year-old boy had he been successfully smuggled across the border. What is certain, however, is that no child’s safety or well-being has a price tag. The Southern District of Texas will not hesitate to prosecute those who illegally bring children into the United States by falsely claiming family ties,” said Ganjei. “Also, a word of warning - if you put a child, even if it’s your own, into the hands of smugglers, you will be prosecuted. Return home to them; don’t endanger your children by placing their lives in the hands of people you don’t know.”
Three known felons who had illegally reentered the country also received sentences this week: Ivan Lopez-Sonora received a sentence of 57 months and Gregorio Mendoza-Martinez received 30 months in Brownsville; Lopez-Sonora has prior convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and multiple immigration violations while Mendoza-Martinez has been convicted previously for burglary and illegal reentry. In Houston, Jose Maldonado-Vasquez received an 84-month sentence; his criminal history includes convictions since 2008 for possession of controlled substances, burglary, assault and evading arrest along with other immigration violations and three previous removals.
Federal law enforcement 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 and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives provided support for these cases alongside state and local partners.
These prosecutions are part of Operation Take Back America—a nationwide initiative led by the Department of Justice aimed at combating illegal immigration activities as well as targeting cartels and transnational criminal organizations through coordinated efforts from Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
The Southern District of Texas covers more than nine million people across 43 counties spanning over 44,000 square miles—making it one of the busiest districts nationally—and its seven divisions work closely with various law enforcement partners on federal crimes throughout Houston, Galveston, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, McAllen and Laredo.
Ganjei emphasized public safety remains a top priority under current leadership: enhanced enforcement efforts at both border areas and within district communities have resulted in identifying individuals engaged in unlawful activity or possessing serious criminal histories—including human trafficking or violence against children.
An indictment or criminal complaint is only an accusation; all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty through due process.
