Federal Prosecutors Filed 471 Immigration Cases in Texas in One Week

Federal prosecutors in the two busiest federal court districts in Texas filed a combined 471 immigration and immigration-related criminal cases in the first week of May, according to press releases from both U.S. Attorney’s offices. The Southern District of Texas filed 256 cases between May 1 and May 7. The charges include 40 people allegedly involved in human smuggling, 46 criminal complaints for illegal entry and 180 felony reentry charges under 8 U.S.C. §1326. The Western District of Texas added another 215 cases in the same period, with charges ranging from alien smuggling to illegal reentry with prior convictions for DWI, violent crime and drug trafficking.

Most of those charged in the Southern District have prior felony records, according to Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck. Among them: a Bolivian national found near Roma with a prior conviction for carnal knowledge of a minor, and a Mexican national picked up in the same area who had previously been convicted of injury to a child or elderly person and drug possession. Both face up to 20 years in federal prison. In the Western District, the most notable case involved U.S. citizen Bryan Fernando Guillen, charged with alien smuggling in El Paso. A criminal complaint alleges Border Patrol agents had been investigating Guillen after a TikTok video linked his Mercedes-Benz to a smuggling operation. On May 4, the vehicle failed to yield to emergency lights and was later found abandoned at the Ysleta Port of Entry. Guillen and a passenger were arrested while attempting to flee into Mexico. Investigators tied Guillen to a stash house with 12 undocumented immigrants and allege he had been smuggling for roughly seven months.

All cases fall under Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative launched on March 6, 2025, by a memorandum from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The operation directs federal prosecutors to prioritize criminal charges for illegal entry and illegal reentry, redirecting resources from the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.

The Numbers in Context

The 471-case week puts both districts on pace to match or exceed their 2025 totals. Last year, the Western and Southern Districts of Texas recorded 25,506 immigration criminal cases combined. At the current weekly pace of roughly 470 cases, the two districts would reach approximately 24,500 for the year, essentially flat with last year’s record. The SDTX alone has sustained elevated weekly filings throughout 2026. In late February, the district filed 473 cases in a single week, the highest weekly total on record for that district. Weekly filings in the WDTX have ranged between 187 and 250 cases since January, according to the office’s weekly press releases.

Separately, a TRAC report published this week found that habeas corpus filings by immigration detainees surged 85-fold in the past year nationwide. The Western District of Texas led the country with 3,448 habeas suits filed between October 2025 and March 2026, more than any other federal judicial district. The Southern District ranked third with 2,305 filings. The surge in habeas petitions is a direct consequence of the administration’s expanded use of detention and its policy of releasing virtually no one before a final deportation decision. As of April 4, 2026, 60,311 people were held in ICE detention nationally, with nearly 71 percent, or 42,722 individuals having no criminal conviction on record, according to TRAC.

Broader Pattern

The weekly prosecution reports have become a staple of both U.S. Attorney’s offices since Operation Take Back America launched. Each week, the offices publish a press release tallying new filings and highlighting specific cases, typically individuals with violent criminal records or prior removals. But the filings include a wide range of defendants, many charged with first-time illegal entry, a misdemeanor under 8 U.S.C. §1325. The pattern reflects a broader shift in the federal criminal justice system in Texas. Immigration cases now dominate federal court dockets in both districts, pushing non-immigration criminal cases further down the calendar. The Deportation Data Project, which obtained ICE enforcement data through March 10, 2026, shows ICE booking roughly 955 people per day into detention as of the most recent complete month down from a peak of 1,053 per day last June but still roughly triple the pace from the second half of 2024. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas covers 68 counties and 93,000 square miles. The Southern District covers 43 counties and more than 10 million residents. Together, they account for the vast majority of federal immigration prosecutions in the United States. Photo credit: U.S. Department of Justice