SAN ANTONIO — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Texas, Western), published as received.

SAN ANTONIO – Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 264 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from September 11 through September 17, announced U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons. Charges were brought against alien smugglers and illegal aliens with past convictions for child sex crimes, numerous DWIs, violent crimes, thefts, and numerous prior removals.

Among the new cases, Jose Ramiro Ramirez Nunez, an illegal alien from Mexico, is charged with illegal alien in possession of a firearm. Ramirez Nunez was pulled over by a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Texas Highway Patrol trooper in Guadalupe County on Monday, September 14. A criminal complaint alleges he was the driver and sole occupant in the vehicle and presented a Mexican Consulate ID card as he did not possess a driver’s license. An officer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) determined Ramirez Nunez was an illegal alien from Mexico and took him into custody. During an inventory search of Ramirez Nunez’s vehicle, the DPS trooper allegedly located a .40 caliber pistol in the center console, unloaded and holstered. The complaint further alleges that the trooper also located two magazines loaded with .40 caliber ammunition inside the glove box. 

An illegal alien and convicted sex offender was arrested in El Indio and charged with illegal re-entry. Jose Enrique Vasquez-Nicolas, of Mexico, was deported on June 28, 2025 after serving a five-year sentence in prison for two counts of sexual assault of a child.

Yoni Donay Hernandez-Orellana, an illegal alien from Honduras, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents near Eagle Pass. Hernandez-Orellana was deported in October 2025 after being convicted of common law robbery in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hernandez-Orellana was also convicted of Robbery with a dangerous weapon in July 2024. He now faces his first illegal re-entry charge.

U.S. citizen Pedro Damian Torres, who was arrested in July on a human smuggling state charge, is now federally charged with alien smuggling following a smuggling incident near Paisano Drive in El Paso. A USBP agent discovered a breach in the border fence and observed five sets of muddy footprints leading toward Paisano Drive. Video surveillance confirmed five individuals crossed the Rio Grande, breached the fence, and entered a silver sedan which then fled at a high rate of speed. An investigation led agents to a location on Viscount Boulevard, where they observed that the interior of the vehicle parked there was covered in mud. The vehicle was determined to be registered to Torres and also had a history of crossing the Bridge of the Americas Port of Entry. Due to the investigation and prior derogatory alerts pertaining to Torres, agents arrested him as he exited the building on Viscount Boulevard. A criminal complaint alleges Torres admitted to picking up five illegal aliens along Paisano Drive and that he was paid $600 per illegal alien, a total of $3,000. The complaint also alleges Torres admitted to three prior smuggling events for which he was paid $500 per subject. 

U.S. citizen Lawrence Joshua Lucero was also arrested and charged with alien smuggling. Lucero allegedly arranged to pick up two illegal aliens near the intersection of Porfirio Diaz Street and West Missouri Avenue. Lucero was previously convicted of human smuggling in June 2025. He was also convicted of drug trafficking in 2023 and child abuse in 2016.

In Fort Hancock, Jose Luis Saldana-Barrios, an illegal alien from Mexico with two active warrants, was arrested and charged with illegal re-entry. Saldana-Barrios was previously removed from the U.S. in November 2017. He was convicted of his fourth DWI in November 2016. He was also convicted in 2015 of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.

These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with additional assistance from state and local law enforcement partners.

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.

Indictments and criminal complaints are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

These cases are part of Operation Take Back America a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

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