A 41-year-old Honduran national who had already served time in the United States for kidnapping and sexual assault, and who had been deported twice, is heading back to federal prison for two more decades. Noel Jose Funez-Antunez was sentenced in Del Rio federal court to 20 years in prison for illegal re-entry into the United States, after being caught near Eagle Pass, Texas, on November 17, 2025.
According to the Department of Justice, Funez-Antunez admitted to Border Patrol agents that he was a Honduran citizen with no legal permission to be in the country. Justice Department records show he had been deported twice before his latest arrest, most recently in June 2024, following U.S. convictions for kidnapping in 2010 and sexual assault in Houston, for which he served two years of confinement.
A Statute Built for Repeat Offenders
Standard illegal re-entry cases carry a maximum two-year prison term, but that ceiling rises sharply for defendants with violent or sexual felony convictions on their record. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2), the maximum penalty climbs to 20 years if a defendant's prior removal came after a conviction for an aggravated felony — the exact provision federal prosecutors say applied in Funez-Antunez's case.
A Warning From the U.S. Attorney
In a statement shared by U.S. Attorney WDTX, Justin R. Simmons, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, said the case sends a message to anyone considering crossing the border illegally. "Here we have an illegal alien who has already been convicted multiple times in our country, who thought he would be able to sneak in and live a life of freedom," Simmons said. "He instead was met by federal agents and Lady Justice, and will spend the next two decades in federal prison before he's deported yet again."
Part of a Sweeping Federal Enforcement Push
The sentencing lands within a broader federal effort. The Justice Department's Operation Take Back America, an enforcement initiative launched in March 2025, directs prosecutors nationwide to lean on Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods resources to pursue illegal re-entry cases, cartel activity and violent crime across all 94 federal judicial districts.
Nowhere has that push been felt more than the Western District of Texas. United States Sentencing Commission data for fiscal year 2025 shows the district led all 94 federal judicial districts in sentenced non-citizens, with 7,346 non-U.S. citizen defendants accounting for 80% of its total criminal caseload.
Numbers Behind the Prosecution Surge
Federal prosecutors in the district routinely file hundreds of new immigration cases every week, including 250 filed in the final week of July 2026 alone, with weekly totals ranging between 175 and 413 cases throughout 2025 and 2026.
Honduran nationals like Funez-Antunez accounted for 10% of all non-U.S. citizens sentenced federally in fiscal year 2025, the Sentencing Commission's data shows, making Honduras the second most common country of origin behind Mexico's 66%. Guatemala ranked third at 8%, followed by El Salvador at 3%.
Del Rio's Pattern of Maximum Sentences
This isn't the first time a Del Rio judge has thrown the full 20 years at a repeat offender. In February, a federal judge in Del Rio handed down Del Rio's earlier maximum sentence case, sentencing twice-deported Salvadoran national Celso Rivas-Gonzalez to the statutory maximum following his July 2025 arrest near Del Rio on prior convictions for child sex crimes. U.S. District Judge Ernest Gonzalez presided over that case.
Funez-Antunez's case isn't new to Hoodline's coverage, either. His original arrest near Eagle Pass was first reported after federal prosecutors filed a wave of immigration cases across the district; our November report on his arrest detailed his charge alongside more than 230 others filed that week.
State Enforcement Shifts and a Pending Legal Fight
The Del Rio sector's booking infrastructure has changed since Funez-Antunez's arrest. Texas officials quietly closed the Val Verde Temporary Processing Facility in mid-2025, shifting booking operations back to local county jails after intake numbers declined at the shuttered Val Verde facility, which had once handled up to 276 border arrests per month under Operation Lone Star.
Meanwhile, Texas's own attempt to criminalize illegal re-entry at the state level is being fought in court. In May, Honduran nationals residing in Texas filed a class-action lawsuit in the Western District of Texas challenging Senate Bill 4, a state statute that sought to create a parallel illegal re-entry crime carrying up to 20 years in prison; according to the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, the plaintiffs argue the law is preempted by federal authority under the Supremacy Clause.
Once Funez-Antunez completes his 20-year term, federal officials said he will be deported once again.
