U.S. attorneys for six southwestern border districts charged nearly 1,000 illegal aliens with immigration-related crimes during the first week of April under Operation Take Back America, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
The districts involved include Arizona, Central California, Southern California, New Mexico, Southern Texas and Western Texas.
The District of Arizona brought charges against 204 illegal aliens; 83 of whom were charged with illegal reentry and 107 were charged with illegal entry. Fourteen people, including Ivan Mauricio Hernandez-Mosqueda, were also charged with smuggling humans into and within the district.
Hernandez Mosqueda, a Mexican national, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for smuggling more than 100 illegal aliens into the U.S., the DOJ said, adding that he coached some of them to “claim asylum under false pretenses” when entering the country.
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The Southern District of California filed 97 cases, bringing charges against defendants for transporting illegal aliens, bringing them in for financial gain, bribery by a public official, illegal reentry and bringing in controlled substances.
One of the illegal immigrants charged is Mexican national Francisco Anguiano Rios, who attempted to bring 209 packages containing 547 pounds of cocaine across the border at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
There were 24 defendants charged in the Central District of California for reentering the U.S. following removal, including criminals who were found guilty of felonies prior to previous deportation.
The District of New Mexico brought charges against 99 individuals; 56 for illegal reentry after deportation, 11 for alien smuggling and 32 for illegal reentry. The DOJ said many of the defendants were criminals with prior convictions for solicitation of a child to engage in sexual conduct, leaving the scene of a fatal accident and possession with intent to distribute meth.
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In the Southern District of Texas, 225 immigration-related and border security cases were filed against 70 people accused of illegally reentering the country and 144 accused of entering the country illegally. The majority of those people have felony convictions for narcotics, previous immigration offenses and violent or sexual crimes.
Also in Texas, attorneys in the state’s western district filed 259 criminal cases related to immigration, the DOJ said without providing specifics.
One of the people charged is Mexican national Miguel Angel Torres-Segura, who was living in San Antonio illegally and is accused of participating in a human smuggling organization that carried out at least 19 events involving more than 900 illegal immigrants between May 2021 and June 2022. Torres-Segura has also been convicted of illegally entering the U.S. two times and illegal reentry two times.
“We are grateful for the hard work of our border prosecutors in bringing these cases and helping to make our border safe again,” the DOJ said in a news release.
Operation Take Back America, which began when President Donald Trump was inaugurated, is aimed at curbing the illegal immigration crisis, totally eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protecting communities from violent criminals.
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