The following press release was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
SAN ANTONIO — Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 450 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from June 12 through June 25, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons announced.
Charges were brought against human smugglers and illegal aliens with prior convictions for numerous DWIs, violent crimes including assault and homicide, sex crimes against children, theft, and multiple prior removals from the United States.
Among the new cases, convicted felon and illegal alien from Mexico Jose Gilberto Padilla-Yepez was arrested near Eagle Pass and charged with illegal re-entry. Padilla-Yepez has been deported four times, most recently in August 2022. His criminal record includes a 1991 homicide conviction, three burglary convictions in Dallas, a Nebraska conviction for theft over $1,500, and Arizona convictions for robbery, assault, sexual assault, burglary and kidnapping.
Also arrested near Eagle Pass was Juan Antonio Gonzalez Escamilla, an illegal alien from Mexico charged with illegal re-entry. In January, Gonzalez Escamilla was convicted of illegal re-entry for the second time and deported for the sixth time. In addition to the two immigration convictions, his criminal history includes three DWI convictions.
Martin Flores-Romero was arrested near Eagle Pass on June 19 and charged with illegal re-entry. Flores-Romero, an illegal alien from Mexico, was deported for the second time in December 2025. In 2023, he was convicted of tampering with government records, assault causing bodily injury and terroristic threat causing imminent fear.
Pedro Euceda-Aguero, an illegal alien from Honduras, is charged with illegal re-entry after his arrest by U.S. Border Patrol agents near Eagle Pass on June 19. He was removed from the United States for the fourth time in December 2022. His criminal record includes four DWI convictions and a conviction for escape from custody.
Francisco Javier Perez-Solis, an illegal alien from Mexico, was charged with illegal re-entry after being encountered at the Atascosa County Jail in Jourdanton, where he had been arrested for assault causing bodily injury to a family member. He was transferred to ICE custody on June 24. In addition to the recent assault charge, Perez-Solis has three prior DWI convictions and was previously removed from the United States in June 2024.
Jose Humberto Gonzalez Calderon, an illegal alien from Mexico, was found in the Hays County Jail after receiving deferred adjudication probation on a child grooming charge. He was transferred to ICE custody on June 16. His criminal history includes convictions for DWI and possession of a controlled substance in 2020 and criminal trespass in 2021. He was removed to Mexico in December 2021.
Carlos Emmanuel Gonzalez-Chavez, also an illegal alien from Mexico, was found in the Hays County Jail serving a sentence for assault causing bodily injury before being transferred to ICE custody. He was previously convicted of possession of a controlled substance in 2025 and removed from the United States in 2019. He now faces a federal charge of illegal re-entry.
U.S. citizen Tony Nefi Deanda was charged with alien smuggling in El Paso. According to court documents, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended eight undocumented minors near Socorro after they crossed the Rio Grande and climbed over the international boundary fence using a ladder. Investigators identified Deanda as the alleged smuggler. He was later arrested at the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry. Deanda was previously convicted in 2021 of importing 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and sentenced to 37 months in prison.
U.S. citizen Michelle Aimee Rivera, who has a prior alien smuggling conviction, was arrested June 12 after attempting to enter the United States through the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry. According to a criminal complaint, Rivera allegedly smuggled a female child into the United States through the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry on June 5 using her daughter’s U.S. birth certificate. Rivera allegedly told investigators she was paid $1,000 to smuggle the child and recorded a video to send to a co-conspirator. Rivera was convicted in 2017 of bringing in and harboring aliens and sentenced to 24 months of probation.
Guadalupe Guerrero was charged with alien smuggling following her arrest on June 18. According to a criminal complaint, U.S. Border Patrol agents tracked a van from Fabens to El Paso that had previously been linked to an alien smuggling attempt. Agents allegedly observed multiple individuals exit the van and enter an apartment. Later, agents encountered Guerrero at the apartment with her seven children and determined she was allegedly housing illegal aliens and coordinating with a smuggler.
These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from state and local law enforcement agencies.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas serves 68 counties covering nearly 93,000 square miles and an estimated population of 7.6 million people. The district includes San Antonio, Austin and El Paso and shares 660 miles of border with Mexico.
These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative targeting illegal immigration, transnational criminal organizations and violent crime.
An indictment or criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
