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 350 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from May 22 to May 28, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons announced.
The charges include cases involving alleged human smuggling and illegal re-entry by individuals with prior convictions for offenses including DWI, violent crimes, burglary, patronizing prostitution and multiple prior removals from the United States.
Among the new cases, 172 were filed in Del Rio.
According to federal authorities, Jeremias Perez-Ramirez, an illegal alien from El Salvador, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents and charged with illegal re-entry. Perez-Ramirez was most recently deported for the fourth time in February. Authorities said his criminal history includes three DWI convictions, two convictions for driving with a suspended or invalid license and unlawful restraint.
U.S. Border Patrol agents also arrested Martin Roman-Barrera, a convicted felon and illegal alien from Mexico. Roman-Barrera was last deported in 2014 after being convicted of aggravated battery in a public place and sentenced to three years of confinement. Prior to that conviction, authorities said he was convicted of two DUI misdemeanors and driving on a suspended or revoked license.
In El Paso, federal prosecutors filed 152 new immigration cases, including an illegal re-entry charge against Ecuadorian national Luis Oswaldo Zhagui-Zhagui. Authorities said Zhagui-Zhagui was removed from the United States for the third time in September 2025. In November 2021, his driver’s license was revoked following a second DWI conviction.
Federal authorities also announced the arrest of a Midland-Odessa man near Fort Hancock on an alien smuggling charge.
According to a criminal complaint, U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a blue Mazda CX-5 on Interstate 10 near mile marker 78. Authorities allege the vehicle was driven by Eduardo Zepeda, who was transporting five illegal aliens. Investigators allege Zepeda agreed to transport the individuals to a hotel in El Paso after being recruited by a friend in Mexico and was promised $500 per person.
In San Antonio, Mexican national Gaspar Rodriguez-Garcia was transferred into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody from the Bexar County Adult Detention Center, where he had been serving a three-year sentence for a third DWI conviction.
Federal authorities said Rodriguez-Garcia has twice been convicted of illegal re-entry and now faces a third illegal re-entry charge.
The cases were referred or supported by multiple federal law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with assistance from state and local law enforcement partners.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas serves 68 counties across central and western Texas, covering nearly 93,000 square miles and an estimated population of 7.6 million residents. The district includes San Antonio, Austin and El Paso and shares approximately 660 miles of border with Mexico.
