The following information was provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Western District of Texas.
SAN ANTONIO – Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 175 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26, announced U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons. Charges were brought against human smugglers and illegal aliens with past convictions for sex crimes, violent crimes, drug trafficking, DWIs, gang affiliations, and multiple prior removals.
Among the new cases, Mexican nationals Heriberto Vasquez-Salinas and Felix Ermundo Jose-Jose aka Jose Felix-Edmundo were both charged with illegal re-entry in San Antonio after being arrested on Feb. 18. Texas Department of Public Safety advised Cotulla Border Patrol agents of a possible stolen vehicle that had failed to yield on Interstate 35 northbound. The vehicle was soon found empty on a private ranch east of Dilley. A criminal complaint alleges that, after an extensive joint search using a DPS helicopter, USBP agents apprehended Vasquez-Salinas and Jose-Jose.
Salvadoran national and documented Tango Blast gang member Franklin Ulises Rodriguez-Rivas was charged with illegal re-entry. According to a criminal complaint, the San Antonio Police Department conducted an aggravated kidnapping investigation and executed a search warrant on Feb. 19. Rodriguez-Rivas allegedly jumped out of a window as officers were approaching the residence, and he was subsequently arrested. He was previously convicted of illegal re-entry and removed from the U.S. in March 2022.
Honduran national Juaquin Vardalez-Zepeda was arrested for assault causing bodily injury to a family member and booked in the Bexar County Adult Detention Center. He was transferred into ICE custody and charged with illegal re-entry.
On Thursday, Honduran national Carlos Navil Rodriguez-Banegas was transferred into ICE custody from the Bexar County Adult Detention Center, where he had been booked on a DWI charge. Rodriguez-Banegas was previously removed from the U.S. to Honduras in December 2022.
David Adony Lemus-Villeda, also a Honduran national, was transferred into ICE custody from the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on Wednesday. He had been arrested for discharge of a firearm within a municipality. Lemus-Villeda was previously removed from the U.S. to Honduras in January 2021.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Mexican national Olegario Martinez-Ramirez after an alleged foot pursuit near the north side of the Chamizal National Park in El Paso. A criminal complaint alleges Martinez-Ramirez paid a smuggler $2,500 and was going to pay an additional $8,000 once he arrived at his destination in Los Angeles, California. Martinez-Ramirez was just deported for the third time on Feb. 3, from Calexico, California. He’s been convicted four times for driving under the influence.
Mexican national Roberto Salazar-Alcantar was transferred into ICE custody on Feb. 20 from the El Paso County Detention Facility, where he had completed a sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Immigration records indicated that Salazar-Alcantar was issued an Expedited Removal Order in New Mexico on May 25, 2010, and was subsequently removed to Mexico on June 1, 2010. He returned to the U.S. following is deportation and was convicted in October 2023 of illegal re-entry, a charge he faces once again.
Guatemalan national Cirilo Ramirez-Sebastian was arrested approximately two miles west of the Fort Hancock Port of Entry, having been deported to Guatemala on Jan. 7 through Phoenix, Arizona. Ramirez-Sebastian was convicted of assault in April 2025, and has two DUIs since October 2020, along with another conviction for false reporting.
A Mexican national has been federally charged with illegal re-entry after he was found in the Travis County Jail last year. Ramon Franco-Martinez was convicted of sexual assault in 2025 and booked into the Travis County. Upon identifying him as an illegal alien, ICE lodged a detainer. In 2013, Franco Martinez was removed from the U.S., following a DWI conviction.
U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Mexican national Nabor Florentino-Franco near Kinney on Feb. 21. Florentino-Franco has been deported twice, the most recent being on Nov. 22, 2025. His criminal record consists of four misdemeanors resulting in convictions, including unlawful restraint and assault causing bodily injury to a family member. Two days before his November removal, Florentino-Franco was convicted of the felony offense of being an alien in possession of a firearm.
Cuban national Daynel Torres-Perez was arrested for illegal re-entry near Maverick, having been deported in June 2025. The twice convicted felon has prior convictions for third-degree grand theft, unarmed burglary of an occupied structure, and driving with a suspended license.
These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with additional assistance from state and local law enforcement partners.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas comprises 68 counties located in the central and western areas of Texas, encompasses nearly 93,000 square miles and an estimated population of 7.6 million people. The district includes three of the five largest cities in Texas—San Antonio, Austin and El Paso—and shares 660 miles of common border with the Republic of Mexico.
These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
