(San Benito News/Ray Quiroga)
Special to the NEWS
BROWNSVILLE, TX – A 37-year-old Mexican woman living in San Benito is charged with assaulting an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations [ICE-HSI], announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei this afternoon (Friday, June 13, 2025).
According to court records, Maria Isabel Cruz-Salas is expected for her next hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Betancourt on June 18 at 11:15 a.m.. She is currently in Federal custody.
The criminal complaint, filed June 10, alleges Cruz-Salas assaulted a federal officer during a worksite immigration inspection in San Benito.
According to the charges, authorities were conducting an enforcement operation on Monday, June 9, 2025 at Taqueria El Mante, where they discovered Cruz-Salas.
As an HSI agent attempted to detain her, she allegedly kicked him in the face, according to a US Justice Department press release.
If convicted, she faces a maximum of eight years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
ICE-HSI and FBI are conducting the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Coronado is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America. This nationwide initiative marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel what the Trump Administration has controversially deemed “the invasion of illegal immigration,” to achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect US communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhood, said Ganjei.
A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.
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