EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Federal prosecutors with the Western District of Texas announced it has filed over 730 new immigration-related cases in the last three weeks, including four cases with El Paso connections.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, on Friday, 735 new immigration and immigration-related criminal cases from Dec. 19, 2025, to Jan. 8, 2026, were filed.
Among those cases are two human smuggling cases and two cases involving the removal of two migrants who had been previously convicted of crimes in the U.S.
On Christmas Eve, American citizen Kenya Rodriguez-Marcial was arrested at the Bridge of the Americas after she allegedly confessed to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers that she was part of a smuggling operation involving children.
The criminal complaint alleges Rodriguez-Marcial was walking into El Paso from Ciudad Juarez when she told CBP officers that she was going to pick up some items for Christmas Dinner.
During the inspection, CBP officers reportedly found money stacks in her purse, $1,300 in American currency and $11,500 in Mexican pesos.
After the discovery, Rodriguez-Marcial allegedly confessed, explaining that the money was proceeds from her involvement in the human smuggling operation and said she was on her way to feed to migrant children in El Paso.
CBP officers alleged they found a “proof of life” video on Rodriguez-Marcial’s phone showing a girl saying that she was in El Paso on Dec. 23, 2025, as well as text messages between Rodriguez-Marcial and another suspect discussing the smuggling of the girl.
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In a separate smuggling case, Mexican citizen Alexis Antillon-Rey and Ecuadoran national Manuel Leonardo Caiza-Deleg are facing smuggling charges after they were arrested on I-10 near Sierra Blanca on their way to El Paso.
No date was provided for this incident, but the DOJ said U.S. Border Patrol agents pulled over a vehicle on I-10 near Sierra Blanca after they allegedly saw several people jump into the vehicle.
The criminal complaint alleges that a Border Patrol agent saw several other people lying in the cargo area of the vehicle and described Antillon-Rey as the driver and Caiza-Deleg as the guide.
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In the third case, Mexican national and convicted felon Miguel Angel Martinez-Ruiz was arrested in El Paso and charged with illegal re-entry after being removed to Mexico on Oct. 31 through San Ysidro, California.
According to the DOJ, Martinez-Ruiz was convicted in 2022 for assault with a deadly weapon, causing brain injury and paralysis, and sentenced to seven years in prison.
In the fourth case, Reynaldo Rofino-Octaviano, a Mexican national with three prior DWI and one drug possession convictions, was found in El Paso, near the downtown border crossing.
Rofino-Octaviano had been previously removed from the U.S. three times, the last one being to Mexico in November.