Three-Time Deported Mexican National Charged With Assaulting Immigration Officers in Texas

A Mexican national living illegally in Lewisville, Texas, has been arrested and charged with assaulting federal immigration officers, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas announced on May 8, 2026.

The defendant, identified in the Department of Justice release as a three-time deported illegal alien, faces charges that include assault on federal officers. The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The statutes cited in the charging document cover crimes of violence against federal law enforcement personnel engaged in official duties.

The scope of the incident centers on one individual encountered during an immigration enforcement operation. The defendant had previously been removed from the United States three times before re-entering and settling in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville.

Federal immigration officers serve approximately 400,000 removal cases annually nationwide, according to standard Department of Homeland Security enforcement statistics.

The charges change the defendant's legal status from an administrative immigration matter to a pending federal criminal case. Prior to the assault, the individual faced only civil removal proceedings. The criminal case now requires the defendant to appear in federal court, where penalties can include additional prison time consecutive to any immigration sentence.

Sentencing will follow standard federal guidelines once a verdict or plea is reached.

Downstream, the Eastern District of Texas U.S. Attorney's Office must now present evidence to a grand jury or proceed on the filed complaint, triggering discovery obligations and a trial calendar. Immigration and Customs Enforcement must coordinate detention with the U.S. Marshals Service.

A conviction will add to the defendant's criminal record, automatically barring legal re-entry for life and requiring Customs and Border Protection to flag the individual in all future border databases. The case also requires the Department of Justice to report the prosecution outcome in its quarterly immigration enforcement statistics to Congress.

This arrest follows a series of similar federal prosecutions in Texas districts. The original three-time deportation occurred under prior removal orders issued by immigration courts. Congress has separately required the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize repeat offenders in its annual enforcement guidelines issued since 2022.