Acting United States Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas announced that federal prosecutors in the district filed 295 immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from April 4 through April 10.
Among the new cases, Mexican national Jorge Alberto Garcia-Drue was encountered at the Frio County Jail in Pearsall after he was arrested for allegedly refusing to provide accurate identification.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Enforcement Removal Operations agents determined that Garcia-Drue was an alien illegally present within the United States and that he had been previously removed from the country.
A review of his criminal history revealed that he had also been convicted on December 10, 2014, of harbouring illegal aliens and aiding and abetting. For that conviction, Garcia-Drue was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.
In El Paso, agents responded to an address on April 3. A criminal complaint alleges that one of the agents recognised an alarming amount of smoke inside the residence. Responding to the smoke, agents entered the home and noticed two cell phones burning inside a toilet.
At the same time, an agent noticed a broken skylight in the bathroom was broken and believed someone had escaped through the roof. Two individuals were then located and apprehended on the roof of the house.
The individuals were identified as Victor Adolfo Gonzalez-Serrano and Alberto Antonio Barrera-Soria. Back inside the residence, the criminal complaint indicates that agents located air mattresses, bags full of trash, and wet clothing and shoes.
Seventeen additional people were located inside the residence. The home had been used as a stash house, allegedly managed by Gonzalez-Serrano and Barrera-Soria, who both stated they were being paid to harbour and care for the illegal aliens. Barrera-Soria has been deported two times—most recently on July 23, 2024.
He, along with Gonzalez-Serrano and a third defendant, Diego Axel Barrera-Granados, who alleged that he had been smuggled into the U.S. to transport illegal aliens, are Mexican nationals in the United States illegally and have been charged with bringing in and harbouring aliens.
On April 7, Border Patrol agents apprehended an individual east of the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry. A criminal complaint alleges that, during processing, the individual was receiving multiple phone calls and texts, causing suspicion that an alien smuggling scheme was ongoing.
The apprehended individual allegedly consented for agents to use his cell phone and, when a USBP agent answered an incoming call, the agent posed as an illegal alien to coordinate a pickup.
This led agents to Luis David Castro, who arrived at an agreed-upon location and believed he was going to pick up an illegal alien for smuggling. He’s charged with one count of bringing in and harbouring aliens. Castro is a felon convicted in 2016 for aggravated robbery with 2023 conviction for burglary of a building.
Guatemalan national Julio Pop-Tiulwas was arrested in El Paso on April 7 for illegal re-entry, having been previously removed from the U.S. on May 13, 2024.
A criminal complaint alleges that Pop-Tiul is a twice-convicted felon and admitted affiliation with the 18th Street Gang. He was convicted in Los Angeles, California, in 2019 for assault with a deadly weapon and in 2021 for taking a vehicle without consent.
In Del Rio, Mexican national Jose Alfredo Almendarez-Alvarez was arrested by USBP agents for being an alien illegally present in the U.S. Almendarez-Alvarez was deported in October 2024 through Laredo. A convicted felon, he was sentenced in Huntsville in 2023 to two years’ confinement for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Other arrests this past week in the Del Rio sector include Mexican nationals Jose Eufracio-Plata, Isaias Gomez-Cruz, and Antonio Manuel Vazquez-Rodriguez. Eufracio-Plata was just deported March 7 for the third time and has four felony convictions, including two for illegal re-entry and two related to marijuana possession.
Gomez-Cruz was apprehended on April 3 near Carrizo Springs. Gomez-Cruz was most recently deported for the fifth time on March 3 following a conviction for illegal re-entry on Feb. 26. His criminal record includes two DWI convictions and a conviction for reckless driving. Vazquez-Rodriguez was deported on March 14 through Laredo and was convicted in September 2024 for evading arrest.
He was also convicted of the same offence in March 2023. Lastly, Mexican national Eduardo Gaspar-Santos was arrested on April 2 after being previously deported on December 6, 2024. Gaspar-Santos was convicted in November 2024 in Lewisville for assault causing bodily injury.
