EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Federal prosecutors said they have filed 200 new immigration-related criminal cases from Feb. 13 – 19, including three cases from the Borderland.
According to the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons announced that federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas brought charges in the 200 cases he said include suspected human smugglers, undocumented migrants with criminal histories.
Among the cases, there are two that happened near Tornillo and one near an El Paso international bridge.
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In one case, American citizens Arturo Reyes and Anthony Joseph Scalza were arrested near Tornillo on Tuesday as authorities said the two had planned to pick up and drive three undocumented migrants.
The two suspects were caught after Border Patrol agents discovered the three undocumented migrants hiding in a pecan orchard.
The Border Patrol agents reportedly got permission to use the migrant’s cell phone and so started communicating with the driver, arranging a pickup.
According to authorities, Reyes and Scalza showed up at the agreed location, thinking they were picking up the migrants, when they were instead met by Border Patrol.
Both suspects are facing human smuggling charges.
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In the second case, also in the Tornillo area, Guatemalan citizen Julio Lucas Santos-Santos was caught after he had been removed from the U.S. in July of 2025.
According to authorities, Santos-Santos has a criminal history, having been convicted of rape in the first degree in New York.
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In the third case, Mexican citizen Angel Eduardo Zamora-Yanez was arrested near the Paso De Norte border crossing in Downtown El Paso after he had been deported from the U.S. for the eight time in September of 2025.
According to authorities, Zamora-Yanez had been convicted of assaulting a peace officer in 2023 and was sentenced to three years in jail.
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