Press Release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas
SAN ANTONIO – A Mexican national arrested near Del Rio with three prior deportations was among defendants charged as federal prosecutors filed 292 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases across the Western District of Texas from Aug. 7 through Aug. 13, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons announced.
Francisco Gallegos-Garza, an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested near Del Rio. Gallegos-Garza has three prior deportations, the most recent in June 2019. His criminal record includes two DWI convictions, assault causing bodily injury and a felony conviction for injury to a child with intent to inflict bodily injury.
Charges were brought across the Western District against alien smugglers and illegal aliens with past convictions for numerous DWIs, violent crimes, thefts and multiple prior removals.
U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted a traffic stop for suspected alien smuggling on U.S. Highway 277 near Brackettville. A criminal complaint alleges several occupants fled the vehicle.
One of the fleeing occupants, Yunior Omar Arita-Trimino, an illegal alien from Honduras, allegedly shoved an agent in the upper chest and arms, resisted arrest and struck the agent multiple times with a black bag before breaking free into oncoming highway traffic.
Arita-Trimino was ultimately arrested and charged with assaulting and resisting a federal officer engaged in the performance of official duties.
Near Eagle Pass, Fabio De Carvalho Fernandes, an illegal alien from Brazil, was arrested and charged with illegal re-entry. Fernandes has been deported from the U.S. three times, the most recent in December 2014, following a felony conviction for bringing in and harboring aliens.
Among the other new cases, Marco Antonio Dominguez-Barranco, aka Isaias Salvador Gonzalez Jr., an illegal alien from Mexico, allegedly presented himself to U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry using a U.S. passport bearing his photo but another individual’s name and date of birth.
A criminal complaint affidavit alleges Dominguez-Barranco stated he was looking for his godchildren, causing CBP officers to suspect he may have been associated with a recent smuggling event involving two minors.
According to allegations in the affidavit, Dominguez-Barranco admitted he had participated in the smuggling event, crossed back into Mexico and was returning illegally to the U.S. to transport the children to Denver, Colorado. Dominguez-Barranco is now charged with alien smuggling.
Erick Manuel Martinez-Mendez, an illegal alien from Cuba, allegedly made misrepresentations to gain entry to the United States through the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry.
A criminal complaint affidavit alleges Martinez-Mendez presented a State of Texas birth certificate and a copy of a Texas identification card with the name and date of birth of another individual. Martinez-Mendez allegedly claimed he lived in El Paso and had been in Mexico to visit his hospitalized mother.
A fingerprint scan revealed Martinez-Mendez’s identity and that he had been removed from the United States in November 2025.
His criminal record includes convictions for robbery, home invasion and armed kidnapping, for which he was sentenced to 17 years in prison; third-degree grand theft and dealing in stolen property, for which he was sentenced to five years in prison; aggravated battery of a person detained in prison, which resulted in a six-year prison sentence; and, most recently, smuggling contraband into prison and resisting an officer/battery on law enforcement, for which he was sentenced to four years and eight months.
U.S. citizen Magdalena Lachica was charged with harboring illegal aliens after U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered 14 illegal aliens inside a residence Lachica was allegedly renting.
A criminal complaint affidavit alleges Lachica’s cell phone contained communications involving alien smuggling, including alien drop-off locations, multiple stash house addresses and co-conspirator information. Agents also allegedly discovered proof-of-life videos on her phone.
In Austin, Ranferie Monroy Escuadra, an illegal alien from Mexico, is charged with illegal re-entry after being found in the Travis County Jail, where he was booked for unlawfully carrying a weapon.
Escuadra has been removed from the U.S. twice, the most recent in November 2020, and has three DWI convictions on his criminal record.
Publisher’s Note: Criminal complaints and charges are allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
