Plano resident Ana Maria Villa-Flores, a 42-year-old Mexican national, has been handed a severe sentence of 120 months in federal prison for her crimes connected to illegal immigration—a result of the U.S. Attorney's Office's Operation Take Back America. Acting U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs confirmed the sentencing, which took place in the Eastern District of Texas presided over by U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant, III on June 12, as reported by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Villa-Flores had previously pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to transport and conceal undocumented immigrants, having been caught with twenty-four in her home back in January 2022, orchestrating an operation that moved them from Mexico into U.S. territory, then on to various locations within the states, and in a startling measure, reportedly had male detainees remove their pants to prevent their escape—her involvement spanned the trafficking of an estimated 254 individuals. Notably, this wasn't her first conviction, as she had already served a four-year sentence for transporting 124 aliens in a prosecution that occurred in 2023, in the Western District of Texas.
The crackdown is part of a larger initiative, Operation Take Back America, designed to fully employ DOJ resources against illegal immigration issues, destabilize cartels and TCOs, and shield communities from related violent crime, according to statements made by authorities. The comprehensive effort joins forces within the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
Investigative credit goes to teams from Dallas and El Paso Homeland Security Investigations alongside the Plano Police Department, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Batson leading the charge on the legal front the legal process that has concluded with Villa-Flores now facing a decade behind bars for her central role in this expansive smuggling network, drawing to an official close another chapter of Operation Take Back America's ongoing narrative.
