Federal prosecutors in South Texas closed out the year with another heavy round of border enforcement cases, underscoring how repeat illegal entry and criminal reentry remain a major strain on the region’s courts and communities.
From Dec. 19 through Jan. 2, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas filed 399 cases tied to border enforcement.
Those prosecutions include:
- 19 people accused of human smuggling
- 146 individuals charged with illegal entry
- 230 defendants accused of illegally reentering the country after prior removal
Many of the defendants already have felony convictions for narcotics, violent crimes, and prior immigration offenses, and additional cases involve firearms and other immigration-related charges.
Prosecutors highlighted multiple illegal reentry cases involving men from Mexico, Honduras, and Cuba who had allegedly been removed from the U.S. just weeks earlier.
According to criminal complaints, Cuban national Armando David Naranjo-Alemany and Honduran national Melvin Antonio Ramos‑Avila were removed Nov. 28 and Nov. 25, 2025, but were found again in South Texas in the final weeks of December.
Other defendants—Ruben Jimenez‑Garcia, Jose Raul Sotelo, and German Garza‑Velez of Mexico—were allegedly discovered back in the country despite prior removals and criminal histories that include convictions for controlled substances such as methamphetamine and cocaine, burglary, or illegal reentry.
Authorities also reported finding a Mexican woman, Eva Aidee Rodriguez‑Rivera, in the Donna area without lawful permission to be in the United States.
She had previously been removed and was sentenced to 75 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.
If convicted of illegal reentry, defendants in these cases face up to 20 years in federal prison.
The prosecutions are being brought under “Operation Take Back America,” a nationwide initiative that the Justice Department describes as an effort to “repel the invasion of illegal immigration,” “achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations,” and protect communities from perpetrators of violent crime.
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