ICE Houston Reports 1,505 Arrests During 10-Day Immigration Operation

(SOUTHEAST TEXAS) ICE Houston carried out a major October 22-31, 2025 enforcement sweep across Southeast Texas, arresting 1,505 people identified as criminal aliens, transnational gang members, foreign fugitives, and other immigration offenders during a 10-day operation. The scale of the action far exceeded recent efforts by the agency’s Houston field office, which covers the nation’s fourth-largest city and surrounding communities, and underscored a sharp increase in coordinated immigration enforcement in the region.

Officials said the 1,505 arrests in just 10 days nearly doubled the tally from a week-long operation in August 2025, when ICE Houston arrested 822 people, and tripled the results of an earlier February-March push that led to 543 arrests. For communities across Southeast Texas, the operation’s speed and scope signaled a more aggressive tempo, with ICE Houston teams moving across city neighborhoods and suburban corridors to locate people with criminal records and open immigration violations.

ICE Houston described those taken into custody as a mix of people with past convictions, active warrants abroad, and individuals who had previously been deported and later returned to the United States without authorization. The agency said the group included 17 documented gang members and 40 aggravated felons. Among the arrests were one convicted murderer and 13 people identified as sexual predators. Officers also reported arresting one foreign fugitive wanted by authorities abroad. The tally highlighted serious violent and non-violent criminal histories: 115 people with aggravated assault offenses, 142 with DWI convictions (driving while intoxicated), 55 with drug offenses, 25 with burglary or theft offenses, and 31 with weapons offenses. In addition, officers arrested 255 people described as illegal reentrants—those who had previously been deported and then reentered the United States, which is a felony under federal law.

The 10-day operation took place as ICE Houston intensified its enforcement strategy following smaller, targeted actions earlier in the year. In August 2025, during a week-long effort from August 17-23, officers arrested 822 individuals. An earlier enforcement period from February 23 to March 2 resulted in 543 arrests. By comparison, the latest 10-day operation combined a wider footprint with more interagency coordination, producing 1,505 arrests—nearly double the August tally and close to three times the late-winter count. ICE Houston said the results reflect planned coordination, specific targeting of people with serious criminal histories, and more resources on the ground.

Several cases drew particular attention during the sweep for their details and the individuals’ criminal histories. On October 29, officers arrested Selvin Joel Lara Diaz, a 35-year-old previously deported child predator and Mexican Mafia gang member from Honduras, at a Houston-area grocery store.

“Lara Diaz had been convicted of raping and impregnating his minor sister and was wanted in Honduras for murder.”

When officers moved in, he fled into the store’s back area and hid under shelves in the stockroom before being found and arrested.

Two days earlier, on October 27, ICE Houston detained Marlon Odir Gomez Hernandez, a 29-year-old suspected MS-13 gang member from El Salvador. Authorities said Gomez Hernandez fled to the United States after being arrested with six other suspected MS-13 members on January 26, 2022, for aggravated extortion.

“During his arrest in Southeast Texas, Gomez Hernandez ran into a local washateria, climbed through ceiling panels onto the roof, and ended up wedged in a sign attached to the side of the building, where officers took him into custody.”

Officers also arrested 46-year-old Salvador Ramirez-Carrillo on October 29. ICE Houston identified him as a four-time previously deported criminal from Mexico and a member of the Paisas gang. His past convictions included aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest with a vehicle. The same week, on October 28, officers detained 27-year-old Rony Andy Martinez Lopez, who had been previously deported to Honduras and later returned to the U.S.; he had prior convictions for lewd and lascivious acts with a minor and cruelty towards a child. On October 30, officers arrested 53-year-old Vongphachan Phothisome, a criminal alien from Laos with a conviction for sexual exploitation of a minor. And on October 29, ICE Houston arrested 27-year-old Mexican national Rey David Bautista-Antonio, who had three prior DWI convictions.

The agency presented these cases as examples of a broader push focused on people with serious criminal conduct as well as those who had previously been ordered removed and reentered unlawfully. The list of offenses cited by officials ranged from violent crimes to public safety risks such as drunk driving and weapons violations. ICE Houston emphasized that the count of 1,505 arrests was not limited to any single city or county, but spanned the Southeast Texas region and occurred over a concentrated 10-day window.

This 10-day operation leaned on cooperation across federal and state lines. ICE Houston coordinated with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which manages border and port operations; the Drug Enforcement Administration, which investigates narcotics trafficking; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which handles firearms and explosives-related cases. The U.S. Attorney’s Office provided prosecutorial coordination, while the Diplomatic Security Service contributed to cases with international elements. The FBI supported intelligence and investigative leads. The U.S. Marshals Service assisted with locating and arresting fugitives. The Texas Department of Public Safety worked alongside federal agents to manage on-the-ground enforcement and ensure officer safety during arrests. This interagency approach, officials said, allowed teams to move quickly on targeted arrests and coordinate custody handoffs based on pending charges, prior convictions, and immigration status.

The arrests included people from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Laos, and other countries. Cases like those of Lara Diaz and Gomez Hernandez illustrated how ICE Houston’s local operations can intersect with international law enforcement concerns, such as outstanding warrants and transnational gang activity. While most arrests were tied to crimes within the United States—aggravated assault, weapons offenses, and repeated DWIs—the inclusion of a foreign fugitive and documented gang members pointed to the breadth of the agency’s targets during the 10-day operation.

ICE Houston released the breakdown as evidence of a sustained period of stepped-up enforcement in the region. The numbers show a clear escalation from earlier in the year: from 543 arrests in a late-winter operation to 822 in August, then surging to 1,505 arrests by the end of October. For residents and local officials, the data presents a picture of concentrated enforcement aimed at people with prior criminal convictions and at those with immigration histories that include unlawful reentry after deportation. The 255 arrests for illegal reentry alone represent more than a sixth of the total, highlighting a recurring category that ICE Houston often prioritizes because federal law treats repeat unlawful entry as a felony.

The operation’s short timeline put pressure on officers to move fast. The cases described by ICE show arrests at everyday locations—grocery stores, laundromats, and residential addresses—rather than at large, single-site raids. In the case of Gomez Hernandez, the attempt to escape through ceiling panels and onto a rooftop underscored the unpredictable situations officers encountered. In the grocery store stockroom where Lara Diaz hid beneath shelving, officers had to secure a confined back-of-house space with customers and staff nearby, which typically requires careful staging to avoid injuries and bystander risk.

In parallel, the presence of people with multiple DWIs and weapons offenses points to the public safety framing ICE Houston often uses to justify these operations, particularly when announcing results that include sexual offenses and aggravated assaults. The arrests of people with repeat violations, such as Bautista-Antonio’s three DWI convictions, are presented by the agency as necessary interventions to reduce risk on local roads and in neighborhoods. While immigration status drove the authority to detain and start removal proceedings, ICE Houston emphasized the criminal histories to explain why these arrests were prioritized during the 10-day operation.

The agency did not publish details about where each of the 1,505 arrests occurred or the precise split between custody transfers to federal prosecutors versus immigration detention pending removal. In general, people with pending or potential criminal charges can be referred for prosecution, while those with final removal orders or repeat illegal entries may be placed into immigration proceedings or reinstated removal. For individuals identified as foreign fugitives or with outstanding warrants abroad, ICE can coordinate with foreign partners through agencies like the Diplomatic Security Service and the U.S. Marshals Service to manage extradition or repatriation once U.S. legal processes are complete.

The heavy interagency footprint suggests the sweep was planned weeks in advance, with shared intelligence lists and deconfliction among units to avoid overlap. The inclusion of 17 documented gang members—spanning groups like MS-13, the Mexican Mafia, and Paisas—points to targeted leads rather than random encounters. With 40 aggravated felons and 13 sexual predators in the tally, ICE Houston’s reporting aligns with prior operations that lean on criminal-history filters to set enforcement priorities when resources are concentrated over a short period.

For Southeast Texas, the immediate result is 1,505 people in custody, a large proportion of whom face removal proceedings or criminal prosecution. The coming weeks will determine how many are transferred to federal courts, how many remain in immigration detention, and how many are deported following adjudication. As case outcomes unfold, ICE Houston is likely to highlight prosecutions for illegal reentry and repeat offenders to show lasting effects beyond the arrest totals. Additional updates are typically posted on the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations newsroom, where the agency aggregates case announcements and operational summaries for the Houston area and other field offices.

By the end of October, the agency had delivered a clear message with a concentrated burst of activity: the ICE Houston field office is ramping up enforcement, and the 10-day operation that yielded 1,505 arrests marks its most assertive push this year. With comparisons that nearly double August’s numbers and triple the February-March count, the trend points to more frequent and larger-scale actions, backed by a deep bench of federal and state partners working across Southeast Texas.