EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas filed 316 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases during the first week of May throughout central and western areas of Texas, including the El Paso region.
Acting U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman for the Western District of Texas made the announcement on Friday, May 9, in a news release.
Among the new cases, the following took place in the Borderland, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office:
Case 1
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Cirilo Delgado-Alderete, Dilan Karim Valenzuela-Baca, and Antelmo Eligio Ramirez-Bernardo were arrested at an alleged stash house in Anthony, New Mexico.
According to an affidavit, U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations agents observed three vehicles that had been identified as being used to smuggle undocumented migrants to Albuquerque parked at the residence.
When agents questioned Ramirez-Bernardo, a Guatemalan national, they allegedly discovered he possessed a key to the residence on his keychain. Agents then located 25 individuals inside the residence who admitted to being citizens of Mexico, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, and Pakistan without documentation to be in the country, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Delgado-Alderete and Valenzuela-Baca were identified as alleged stash house caretakers and drivers to harbor and transport the undocumented migrants.
Delgado-Alderete, Valenzuela-Baca, and Ramirez-Bernardo are charged with one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented migrants and one count of conspiracy to harbor undocumented migrants. The drivers allegedly picked up migrants in El Paso before transporting them to New Mexico.
Case 2
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Mexican national Erasmo Soto-Aguilar and Cesar Jared Garcia-Raucho, a U.S. citizen, were charged with statutes related to harboring undocumented migrants after agents arrested them outside an alleged stash house in El Paso.
A criminal complaint alleges that Soto-Aguilar had been involved in multiple smuggling schemes in which he coordinated pick-up drivers to meet and exchange migrants. The complaint also alleges that Garcia-Raucho admitted to working as a migrant caretaker, the U.S. Attorney’s Office added.
Case 3
Leonel Sotelo-Santillan, a Mexican national, was arrested after allegedly entering a National Defense Area near El Paso illegally on Friday, May 2, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Sotelo-Santillan is a convicted felon with two 2015 convictions for domestic abuse battery and theft in Louisiana, as well as a felony conviction in June of last year for illegal re-entry. He has two prior removals, the last one being December of last year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said other arrests took place in San Antonio, Guadalupe County, Bracketville, Georgetown, Midland, among other locations.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas comprises 68 counties located in the central and western areas of Texas, encompasses nearly 93,000 square miles and an estimated population of 7.6 million people. The district includes three of the five largest cities in Texas —San Antonio, Austin and El Paso — and shares 660 miles of common border with the Republic of Mexico,” read the news release.
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