A total of 395 cases involving 396 individuals were filed in the Southern District of Texas (SDTX) from February 27 to March 5 as part of ongoing border enforcement efforts, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
The criminal complaints include allegations against 23 people for human smuggling, while 165 are accused of entering the country illegally. Another 206 face charges for felony reentry after prior removal, with most having previous convictions related to narcotics, violent crime, immigration offenses, and other crimes. The remaining cases involve other immigration-related offenses.
Among those charged with felony reentry are two men with prior convictions for assault with a deadly weapon who had been removed from the United States within recent months. Authorities reported that Cuban national Onnis Alvarez Rubio was found near Penitas and El Salvadorian national Eduardo Neftali Rodriguez-Cubas near Havana without authorization to be in the country.
Four additional Mexican nationals—Francisco Gonzalez-Angeles, Jesus Lerma-Villarreal, Oswaldo Odinez-Garcia, and Mario Alberto Munoz-Garcia—were also charged with felony reentry after prior removal. Their complaints allege previous convictions including illegal reentry, transporting or harboring aliens, evading arrest, or driving while intoxicated (third or more). Law enforcement located them in McAllen and nearby areas.
If convicted on these charges, all defendants could face up to 20 years in prison.
The SDTX has expanded “Operation Pick-Off” into Houston. This initiative began in the Rio Grande Valley in August 2025 and now results in federal charges across all divisions against illegal alien offenders serving probation or supervision for state crimes while unlawfully present in the United States.
“Our office created Operation Pick-Off based upon an extremely simple concept—that a state probation sentence should not be a sanctuary from federal immigration laws. Take note, the Southern District of Texas is not a safe harbor for those who enter the United States illegally and commit crimes against our citizens,” said Ganjei. “Now, these offenders, who so brazenly flouted our laws, have earned themselves a jail stay before their one-way flight home. My office promised to bring this targeted operation to every corner of the district. Promise kept.”
This week also saw sentencing decisions for several individuals convicted of illegal reentry into the United States. MS-13 gang member Ronald Alberto Rivas-Aguilar received a sentence of 23 months in federal prison following his conviction for illegal reentry. In 2016, Rivas participated in conspiring to murder a rival gang member in Fort Bend County; he transported the victim to Buffalo Run Park where another MS-13 member killed him using a machete after tying his ankles with shoelaces. After being removed to El Salvador by authorities, Rivas returned illegally.
Two Honduran nationals—Angel Arquimedez Coto-Martinez and Kevin Alexander Bueso-Medina—were also sentenced for unlawful reentry: Coto-Martinez received 38 months while Bueso-Medina received 24 months due to multiple prior convictions including drug offenses and driving while intoxicated.
These prosecutions involved collaboration among several federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-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 (ATF), along with support from state and local law enforcement partners.
All these actions fall under Operation Take Back America—a nationwide effort led by the Department of Justice aimed at countering illegal immigration activities and organized crime groups that threaten community safety.
Current leadership emphasizes public safety and border security as primary goals within this district through enhanced enforcement both at entry points and throughout its jurisdiction. This approach has resulted in identifying individuals engaged in unlawful activity or possessing serious criminal histories such as human trafficking or violence-related offenses.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for SDTX is one of the nation’s busiest offices; it covers over nine million people across more than forty counties spanning approximately 44,000 square miles [source]. The office employs over two hundred attorneys working out of locations including Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville [source]. Its responsibilities include prosecuting federal crimes as well as handling civil matters on behalf of government agencies [source].
Leadership within SDTX has included notable figures such as Alamdar Hamdani (2022–2025) [source] among others listed on its official history page [source].
An indictment or criminal complaint constitutes only an accusation; all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty through due legal process.
