Federal prosecutors in South Texas filed 296 immigration and border-related cases over a seven-day stretch. Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck announced the recent wave of charges, which run from June 5 through June 11.
The numbers break down into a few main categories. According to the announcement, 186 people were charged with unlawfully returning to the United States, while another 65 face charges for illegal entry. Court documents note that many of these individuals have past criminal records, including convictions for drug trafficking and violent crimes. An additional 41 people are accused of human smuggling, and nine others face various immigration violations.
One of the newly charged individuals is Pedro Martinez-Arias, a Mexican national caught by law enforcement near the town of Linn. He had just been deported late last year, on Oct. 19, 2024. His criminal complaint shows he was previously sentenced to 168 months in federal prison for a cocaine distribution conspiracy. If convicted of felony reentry, he and others facing similar charges could spend up to 20 years behind bars.
The week’s docket also included a major development in a deadly 2021 human smuggling operation. Two smugglers from Guatemala, Josefa Quino Canil De Zavala and Alberto Marcario Chitic, admitted their involvement in a massive crash in Chiapas, Mexico. The pair recruited migrants, took payments, arranged travel, and gave unaccompanied children a script to read if they were caught by U.S. authorities. They admitted to helping load people into a tractor-trailer on Dec. 9, 2021. That truck eventually crashed just north of the Guatemala border, killing more than 50 people and leaving over 100 others injured.
These arrests are tied to a Department of Justice push called Operation Take Back America. The nationwide initiative focuses heavily on cartel activity, illegal immigration, and taking down transnational criminal groups.
A large network of federal agencies handled the investigations, including Border Patrol, the DEA, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals, and Homeland Security Investigations, working alongside state and local police.
The Southern District of Texas remains one of the busiest federal court districts in the country. It covers a massive footprint of 44,000 square miles, taking in 43 counties and roughly 10 million people.
Prosecutors spread out across offices in Houston, Galveston, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, McAllen, and Laredo handle the caseload. The district’s current leadership states that border enforcement and public safety are their top priorities, targeting individuals involved in human trafficking, violence, and other serious crimes.
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