EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The U.S. Department of Justice reported that federal prosecutors filed 152 immigration and immigration-related criminal cases in El Paso and the surrounding areas.

Among the cases filed, charges included illegal rentry and alien smuggling.

An illegal re-entry charge was brought against Ecuadorian national, Luis Oswaldo Zhagui-Zhagui, for entering the U.S. after having already been removed.

Zhagui-Zhagui was removed from the U.S. for the third time in September 2025. In Nov. 2021, his license was revoked after he was convicted of his second DWI.

A Midland-Odessa man was arrested near Fort Hancock and charged with alien smuggling. Agents with the U.S. Border Patrol pulled over a blue Mazda CX-5 on Interstate-10 Westbound at mile marker 78.

A criminal complaint alleges that the vehicle was driven by Eduardo Zepeda when he was transporting five illegal aliens.

He allegedly received a call at home from a friend in Mexico, recruiting him to pick up the illegal aliens and transport them to a hotel in El Paso for $500 per person.

These cases were a part of those that were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), with additional assistance from state and local law enforcement partners.

Federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas filed a total of 350 new immigration and immigration-related cases from the week of May 22 to May 28.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas said it comprises 68 counties located in the central and western areas of Texas, encompasses nearly 93,000 square miles, and has an estimated population of 7.6 million people.

The district includes three of the five largest cities in Texas— San Antonio, Austin, and El Paso—and shares 660 miles of common border with the Republic of Mexico.

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