CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday, October 28, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested five Mexican nationals in Texas whose criminal histories, according to the department, include manslaughter, drug manufacturing and possession, burglary, assault on a family member and driving while intoxicated. Four of the arrests were made in Corpus Christi, on the Gulf Coast, in September and early October, and the fifth in Lubbock, in West Texas, on October 13. DHS presented the five as part of its continuing "worst of the worst" enforcement drive in Texas.
Source: DHS announcement via Jurelist
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Texas had been affected by what he called "Biden's open borders" and credited President Trump's leadership and cooperation from state and local partners in Texas. Mullin said ICE had been "unleashed" to target and remove dangerous illegal aliens from the state, adding that U.S. borders were closed and that America was no longer a safe haven for illegal aliens. Those are the secretary's political characterizations of the policy; the arrest details below are stated as DHS reported them, and an ICE arrest is an immigration action, not a new criminal conviction.
Source: DHS announcement via Jurelist
Victor Falfan — Corpus Christi, September 10; Alejandro Falfan Acosta — Corpus Christi, October 5; Vanesa Lopez Ibarra — Corpus Christi, September 2; Miguel Zavala Soto — Corpus Christi, September 29; Francisco De La Cruz Lira — Lubbock, October 13. Criminal histories and gang affiliations are as stated by DHS in its October 28 announcement.
Who DHS says was arrested, and where
Victor Falfan, whom DHS identified as a Mexican national and a member of the Tango Houstone gang, was arrested by ICE in Corpus Christi on September 10. DHS said his criminal history includes manslaughter, two counts of possession of marijuana and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.
Source: DHS announcement via Jurelist
Alejandro Falfan Acosta, whom DHS identified as a Mexican national and a member of the Tango Corpito gang, was arrested by ICE in Corpus Christi on October 5. DHS said his criminal history includes convictions for manufacturing or delivering a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, possession of dangerous drugs and property theft.
Source: DHS announcement via Jurelist
Vanesa Lopez Ibarra was arrested by ICE in Corpus Christi on September 2, according to DHS. The department said her criminal history includes convictions for theft, burglary and first-degree burglary. Miguel Zavala Soto was arrested by ICE in Corpus Christi on September 29; DHS said his criminal history includes convictions for assault on a family member and making a false police report. Francisco De La Cruz Lira was arrested by ICE in Lubbock on October 13; DHS said his criminal history includes a conviction for driving while intoxicated.
Source: DHS announcement via Jurelist
The Texas enforcement picture behind the announcement
Wednesday's announcement follows the pattern DHS has used throughout the autumn: periodic releases naming individual arrestees, their cities and their records, published on the department's "Arrested: Worst of the Worst" page and in regional statements. In Texas, ICE's Houston field office has separately said its teams are averaging about 100 arrests a day in the Houston area, and the Southern District of Texas announced earlier this month that 222 people had been charged in its "Take Back America" enforcement push in October — a story Awaaz Punjab published on October 28. Corpus Christi, a Gulf Coast port city in Nueces County, and Lubbock, a West Texas hub on Interstate 27, sit at opposite ends of the state's enforcement map, which is part of the point DHS is making: arrests are not confined to the border itself.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
For Texas's large immigrant communities — including the Punjabi diaspora concentrated in Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth and the trucking corridors that run the length of I-10, I-35 and I-45 — the practical message of these rolling announcements is that interior enforcement is continuing at pace, and that people with prior criminal records are, by DHS's own stated priority, first in line. Immigration lawyers routinely advise anyone who believes a family member has been detained to verify identity, detention location and court history through official ICE and immigration-court systems before taking any step, and to seek qualified legal counsel promptly, especially where a removal order already exists.
What happens next
DHS did not announce court dates for the five, and immigration proceedings — including any removal hearings before an immigration judge — are handled case by case; the department's announcement does not state whether any of the five has already been removed. The criminal histories DHS listed are records the department attributes to each person from earlier cases; they are not new charges arising from the ICE arrests themselves. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if ICE or court records add charging or hearing details for any of the five.
Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security announcement of October 28, 2026, as reported in full by Jurelist, including Secretary Markwayne Mullin's statement and the five named arrests with dates and cities; DHS "Arrested: Worst of the Worst" programme page (dhs.gov/wow) for the enforcement framework. All criminal-history and gang-affiliation details are attributed to DHS; no independent court record for the five was published with the announcement.