Federal Prosecutors Filed 600 Immigration Cases in Texas in One Week

Federal prosecutors in Texas's two busiest federal court districts filed a combined 600 immigration and immigration-related criminal cases during the week of May 22 to 28, according to press releases from both U.S. Attorney's offices. The Southern District of Texas charged 259 people: 160 for illegal reentry under 8 U.S.C. §1326, 69 for illegal entry, 28 for human smuggling, and two for other immigration and firearms offenses. The office reported 250 new cases and charged 259 people. The Western District of Texas filed 350 cases in the same week, 172 of them in Del Rio and 152 in El Paso. Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck built the Southern District's announcement around a Memorial Day weekend shooting. The charges allege Juan Ayala-Montero, a Mexican national previously removed from the country, took an AR-style rifle from his home in New Caney and fired multiple rounds at a group of people, striking one victim in the torso and head. Authorities recovered an Olympic Arms .223 rifle and about 30 spent shell casings at the scene, according to the complaint. Ayala-Montero faces up to 15 years in federal prison on a charge of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. Both districts file the cases under Operation Take Back America, the Department of Justice initiative that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche launched on March 6, 2025, directing federal prosecutors to prioritize illegal entry and illegal reentry charges. The combined total is up from a combined 471 the first week of May, when the Southern District filed 256 and the Western District filed 215. The increase came almost entirely from the Western District, where weekly filings broke a range that had held all spring. The office reported between 187 and 250 cases a week from January through early May, then 319 for the week of May 15 to 21 and 350 the week after. The Southern District held steady, charging 259, close to the 256 it filed the first week of May, both well below the 473 cases it filed in late February, the highest weekly total on its record.