What started as a routine freight-train check near Uvalde turned into a high-stakes arrest when U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Del Rio Sector nabbed a Honduran man with prior child sex convictions inside the United States after a reported train jump. Authorities say the man, identified as Cristobal Cortes-Cartagena, was taken into custody after agents saw three people bail from a railcar and later matched one of them to criminal records. Federal officials say Cortes-Cartagena now faces illegal reentry charges that could carry serious prison time.
Arrest At The Uvalde Train Check
According to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security release cited by News 4 San Antonio, agents assigned to the Uvalde Station were conducting train-check operations on July 4 when three individuals jumped from a railcar and ran. One of the three was later identified as 39-year-old Cristobal Cortes-Cartagena and taken into custody after record checks, the release said.
Why Agents Work The Rails
Uvalde Station agents routinely inspect freight trains for stowaways and hidden migrants, a tactic U.S. Customs and Border Protection has described in previous releases after multiple train rescues and apprehensions. Those routine checks, CBP has said, have repeatedly turned up migrants and sometimes people with prior removals or criminal histories, which is why patrols along rail lines remain a regular feature of enforcement in the Del Rio Sector.
Criminal Record And Border Patrol Response
Records reviewed in the DHS release show Cortes-Cartagena was convicted in California in 2010 of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and was sentenced to five years in prison, then removed from the country after serving his term, the release says. The release adds he was arrested in 2017 for reentry after deportation and later served time on a state charge for failing to register as a sex offender. DHS says he was deported again in 2021.
"Constant vigilance by our Border Patrol agents is paramount to keeping our communities safe," Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony "Scott" Good said in the release, according to News 4 San Antonio.
Federal Charge And Possible Time
Federal reentry charges are brought under 8 U.S.C. § 1326. Under that statute, the maximum penalty can rise to as much as 20 years in prison where the prior removal followed a conviction for an aggravated felony. Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute outlines the statute's separate tiers and penalties.
If prosecutors in the Western District of Texas move forward, the case would be handled in federal court. The U.S. Attorney's Office in the district has recently added large numbers of immigration and illegal-reentry cases to its docket, and federal officials will decide whether to pursue criminal charges or additional removal proceedings. Any indictment or criminal complaint would be filed in federal court. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas reported filing dozens of new reentry cases earlier this month.
