Border crisis fallout: Hundreds of prosecutions a week continue in Texas

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(The Center Square) – The border crisis that pummeled Texas for four years during the Biden administration is continuing to play out in the courts under the Trump administration. Thousands of charges are being filed every week by U.S. attorney’s offices nationwide.  

In the busiest district in Texas, the Southern District, 511 illegal foreign nationals were charged in one week for border-related crimes. Charges included 180 for illegally reentry, 304 for illegal entry and 16 for human smuggling. 

The majority charged have prior felony convictions for narcotics, violent crime, sexual offenses, and previous immigration crimes, according to the Office of U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei. 

Several were charged with assaulting law enforcement officers and face lengthy prison sentences if convicted.

In one case, two Mexican nationals illegally living in Houston were charged with assault, resisting or impeding a federal officer and escape from custody after they were accused of strangling a Border Patrol agent, The Center Square reported. The incident occurred while the officer was transporting them to a detention facility, authorities said. They then broke free of their restraints and escaped from the vehicle, authorities said; they were later apprehended. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in federal prison for the assault charges and additional fines and prison time if convicted of the escape from custody charge.

“The Southern District of Texas has zero tolerance for those who assault law enforcement,” Ganjei said. “Let it be known: if you lay a hand on an officer, deputy, or federal agent, SDTX will do whatever it can to put you in federal prison for as long as the law will allow.”

More recently, in another case, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper attempted to arrest a Mexican national illegally living in Houston who, authorities say, physically resisted arrest and caused the officer to sustain two deep head wounds. He then ran away but was later apprehended by federal authorities, they said. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison for assaulting, resisting or impeding a person assisting a federal officer, Ganjei’s office said.

In another case, a female Honduran national who was illegally living in Texas was arrested after she was ordered to be removed from the country last year by a federal immigration judge. She refused to appear to her hearing, and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer located and arrested her, authorities said. While attempting to take her into custody, she “began scratching the officer and swinging her arm in order to strike him,” according to the complaint. The officer “sustained deep scratches on his arm and hands,” according to the complaint. 

If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in federal prison for “assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer,” authorities say. She was also charged with “conniving, conspiring or taking action to hamper or prevent an alien’s departure,” which carries an additional four years in prison. Both charges carry up to $250,000 in fines. 

In a human smuggling case, a U.S. citizen and a Honduran national in the country illegally were charged with transporting 55 illegal border crossers in a hidden compartment in a produce trailer near San Ygnacio in Zapata County. Multiple heavy pallets blocked them inside, preventing them from being able to get out of the trailer on their own. If convicted, they face up to 10 years in federal prison. Several of the illegal border crossers inside the truck were also arrested on illegal entry or reentry charges. 

Other cases involve illegal foreign nationals in the Rio Grande Valley who illegally reentered Texas just months after they were deported. Their criminal histories include felony convictions for identity theft, drug manufacturing and distribution, tampering with government records or possessing counterfeit permits, according to Ganjei’s office.

In another case, a confirmed Cambodian gang member and murder suspect was arrested after a manhunt ensued. He was wanted on charges of shooting a woman to death in Victoria. His cell phone was found at the scene of the crime, authorities said; when he was arrested, he was in possession of a loaded 9mm pistol and loaded 31-round extended magazine, according to the complaint.  

He illegally entered the U.S. as a child and remained in the U.S. illegally his entire life, authorities found. A federal immigration judge ordered his removal in 2016 as an aggravated felon. He was never deported. His criminal history includes arrests and detention in California, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, authorities said. While living illegally in the U.S., he was in possession of many guns, a felony, according to the charges.

“The presence of armed, illegal-alien gang members in our midst is a threat to public safety,” Ganjei said. “The Southern District of Texas is determined to remove each and every one of them from our streets.”