Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed 256 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from Oct. 23 through Oct. 30, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons announced. He said the cases include charges against alleged smugglers and people in the country illegally who have prior convictions for violent crimes, DWI offenses, thefts or multiple removals.
The district's seven offices have filed nearly 1,000 such cases in October, or about 250 per week on average, according to the announcement.
Prosecutors charged Miguel Malo Poggio with transporting people in the country illegally. Border Patrol agents, supporting an investigation led by ICE Homeland Security Investigations, stopped his tractor-trailer on Interstate 25 north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to a criminal complaint affidavit. The affidavit says agents found 42 people inside the locked cargo trailer, including three unaccompanied minors.