271 Immigration Cases Filed as Part of Operation Take Back America

The Southern District of Texas filed charges in 271 cases between May 15 and 21 related to border security or immigration crimes, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a May 22 statement.

Out of the 271 cases, 249 illegal immigrants were charged with being in the United States unlawfully—67 individuals for illegal entry and 182 for reentry, the DOJ said. Most of these individuals have prior convictions for crimes such as violent acts, narcotics, and immigration offenses. Nineteen of the 271 were allegedly involved in human smuggling.

The cases are part of Operation Take Back America, established by a March 2025 memorandum from then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The operation seeks to implement core objectives such as repelling the invasion of illegal immigrants, achieving the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and establishing Homeland Security task forces, one of the aims of which is to dismantle cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks.

Among the 271 cases filed by the Southern District of Texas, one involved an out-of-state trucker arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle 42 illegal immigrants in a trailer.

“The charges allege that on May 16, Juan Nasario-Reyes arrived at a checkpoint and claimed his vehicle was empty, but a K-9 alerted, and law enforcement ultimately discovered four illegal aliens concealed inside the cab with 38 more in the trailer. It had been latched shut from the outside with a temperature inside of approximately 92.5 degrees,” the DOJ stated.

“A total of 13 of the illegal aliens are also facing either illegal entry or reentry charges, while the remaining are expected to be immediately removed from the country.”

Three other cases involved Mexican illegal immigrants who were in the United States unlawfully. One person was previously convicted of felony illegal reentry and sentenced to 63 months in prison in 2022. This individual was removed from the country in April this year.

In another case, an illegal immigrant sex offender from El Salvador was sentenced to 40 months in prison for reentering the United States without authorization.

The Epoch Times reached out to the legal representative of Nasario-Reyes for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The Southern District of Texas’s immigration-related charges for May 15–21 follow a May 22 announcement by the DOJ that the Western District of Texas had filed 319 new immigration and related criminal cases during that period.

The Trump administration’s actions against illegal immigration have faced challenges.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act in January, which seeks to bar local law enforcement agencies from entering into Section 287(g) cooperation agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Under the agreements, local and state officials can detain suspected illegal immigrants.

At the time, Hochul accused the federal government of engaging in “the weaponization of local police officers for civil immigration enforcement.”

Similar legislation, the New York for All Act, is currently under consideration in the state. It seeks to block local and state officers from enforcing federal immigration laws or sharing information with federal authorities.

In a May 15 interview with the Daily Signal, border czar Tom Homan warned that states that do not allow their officers to cooperate with ICE will subsequently see more personnel on the ground.

Homan said he previously told Hochul: “You end cooperation in the jails, we’re going to have to send more agents to do the job, because now, rather than one agent arresting one bad guy in the jail, which is safer for the agent, safer for the alien, safer for the community, of course, you’re going to release him. Now we got to send a whole team, six or seven agents, to go find him. So, it’s going to result in more agents in the community.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a Feb. 24 statement that the Trump administration has delivered the “most secure border ever” for the country.

At the time, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that over the previous 13 months, almost 3 million illegal immigrants had left the United States because of the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Moreover, the DHS said in a May 15 statement that the Border Patrol achieved its 12th straight month of zero releases in April.

“The days of catch and release are over,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. “We are enforcing the nation’s laws and sending illegal aliens back to their home countries.”