Trump’s immigration crackdown hits the metro-east. Here’s an update on 9 cases
One man was described as a loyal employee at a Fairview Heights pizza restaurant before his arrest on an immigration-related offense. Another was arrested while going to work early on a March morning in O’Fallon while another helped operate a local Mexican restaurant chain.
But these three men, along with six others, all faced various criminal charges before being arrested on immigration-related offenses earlier this year in southern Illinois.
None of the prior criminal cases involved either murder or sexual assault charges.
Christina Kelley, the ex-wife of 42-year-old Luis Morocho-Minga, said he worked at Joe’s Pizza in Fairview Heights for over a decade before being arrested by federal authorities on an immigration charge linked to a gun possession charge filed in St. Clair County.
“He’s just trying to work and take care of his kids,” Kelley said.
Kelley and Morocho-Minga, who is from Ecuador, have a son and daughter.
In mid-April, the U.S. Attorney’s Office publicized the arrests of Morocho-Minga and eight others as an example of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration offenses in the metro-east.
Six of them, including Morocho-Mingo, have since pleaded guilty in federal court to violating immigration laws, according to federal court records reviewed by the Belleville News-Democrat. One man intends to plead guilty and trials are pending for the other two.
The defense attorneys handling the immigration-related offenses have not responded to requests for comment.
At least two of the others had been arrested earlier in the year by federal officers at area courthouses while they were there in connection with criminal charges filed by local law-enforcement agencies.
The arrests are part of the Trump administration’s priority to enforce immigration laws, according to an April 17 news release from U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft of the Southern District of Illinois.
Eight of the nine had previously been deported from the United States. Morocho-Minga was the exception.
“The only person who wasn’t a prior offender was indicted for a firearms offense,” Weinhoeft said in a statement. “These charges show our commitment to prioritizing repeat offenders and those who threaten public safety.”
Statewide, the number of immigration arrests are up 98% this year compared to the same period last year, according to The New York Times. There were 1,120 arrests in Illinois between Jan. 20 and June 10, the newspaper reported based on information from the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley law school.
And across the country, the number of arrests on immigration offenses are up sharply compared to 2024 under the Biden administration but the arrests have not yet met the Trump administration’s goal of 3,000 arrests per day. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has averaged 666 daily arrests from late January to early June, up from fewer than 300 per day last year, according to the Times.
Pizza restaurant employee charged in immigration case
Morocho-Minga pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by an illegal alien on June 3 and was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 1 before U.S. District Judge David W. Dugan in East St. Louis.
According to court documents, Morocho-Minga had owned a Phoenix Arms .22-caliber firearm.
In St. Clair County, he was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon on Dec. 18 and has a status conference scheduled for Aug. 18, according to court records.
According to an order of detention, Morocho-Minga has lived in the area for almost 20 years and has been “steadily employed” at Joe’s Pizza in Fairview Heights, the owner of which “offered to serve as a third-party surety” for him.
He is represented by federal public defenders Ethan Skaggs and Dan Cronin, who could not be reached for a comment. Justin Whitton is the defense attorney in the St. Clair County case and he declined to comment.
A representative of Joe’s Pizza could not be reached for comment.
Kelley, Morocho-Minga’s ex-wife, said they were together for 14 years.
“We’ve tried to go the right way to get his papers,” she said. “It’s just so expensive and so time consuming. I don’t think it’s fair.”
Kelley, who now lives in Florida, plans to take their two children to the Oct. 1 sentencing hearing because she fears Morocho-Minga will be deported to Ecuador after the hearing.
“It may be the last time that they get to see him,” she said.
Here is an update on the court cases of eight others charged with immigration-related offenses in the metro-east:
Pedro Ramos-Garcia, 36
Pedro Ramos-Garcia pleaded guilty in federal court in Benton on April 29 to one count of illegal reentry after deportation in Effingham County and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 26 in Benton before Judge J. Phil Gilbert.
Ramos-Garcia was represented by Molly Madrigal, an assistant federal defender in Benton. Madrigal could not be reached for comment.
Court records state Ramos-Garcia had been removed from the United States to Guatemala on Nov. 11, 2019.
Ramos-Garcia was arrested by federal immigration officers in Effingham County in February after being arrested by Effingham County Sheriff’s Department on charges of driving under the influence and failure to appear on domestic battery charge.
Ramos-Garcia pleaded guilty on Feb. 10 to a misdemeanor battery charge and was ordered to serve 14 days in jail and was placed on probation for two years, according to Effingham County court records.
The DUI charge was dismissed.
Scott Schmidt, who was the defense attorney for Ramos-Garcia in the Effingham County case, could not be reached for comment.
Andres Jimenez-Santiago, 26
Andres Jimenez-Santiago pleaded guilty on April 30 in federal court in East St. Louis to illegal reentry after deportation in St. Clair County. Chief U.S. District Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel sentenced Jimenez-Santiago to time served and remanded him to the custody of the U. S. Marshals Service.
Attorney John D. Stobbs II from Edwardsville represented Jimenez-Santiago on the federal charge. Stobbs could not be reached for comment.
Jimenez-Santiago was arrested on Feb. 26 at the St. Clair County courthouse by federal agents, according to a complaint filed in federal court records.
A federal agent found Jimenez-Santiago had previously been arrested in Belleville in September by reviewing jail records and that he had been previously removed to Mexico from Laredo, Texas, in 2019, according to court records. Jimenez-Santiago was charged with driving under the influence and aggravated battery to a police officer on Sept. 17, the federal complaint states.
The St. Clair County charges are pending and a status conference is scheduled for July 16.
Court records show Michael Rousseau of Belleville is the defense attorney for Jimenez-Santiago on the St. Clair County charges. Rousseau could not be reached for comment.
Jose Ariza-Angula, 37
Jose Ariza-Angula pleaded guilty on May 20 in federal court in East St. Louis to illegal reentry after deportation in St. Clair County.
U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn sentenced Ariza-Angula to time served and remanded him to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Todd Schultz, an assistant federal public defender for the Southern District of Illinois, represented Ariza-Angula during the guilty plea hearing. Schultz could not be reached for comment.
On March 13, federal agents arrested Ariza-Angula in O’Fallon after seeing him leave from a home in a “work truck” at around 6:45 a.m., according to court records.
A federal complaint states Ariza-Angula had been removed from California to Mexico in 2013 and had been arrested by Florissant, Missouri, police on a charge of “stealing” in 2022. Details of the Missouri case were not listed in the federal complaint.
The News-Democrat found court records that show Ariza-Angula pleaded guilty in 2022 to a “littering” ticket issued by the Florissant Police Department in 2021.
Lauren Barry, a spokesperson for Weinhoeft’s office, declined to provide the court case number for the “stealing” charge, saying in an email statement that it is against the U.S. Department of Justice’s policy “to publicize a defendant’s criminal history unless it’s related to the current federal charge.” Barry said the agency can discuss prior charges if a person is charged with an offense such as a “felon in possession of a firearm.”
Cesar Millan, a St. Louis attorney who represented Ariza-Angula in the Florissant case, could not be reached for comment.
Erick Roman-Roman, 49
Erick Roman-Roman was indicted on March 18 on one count of illegal reentry after deportation in St. Clair County and intends to plead guilty to the charge on July 29, according to federal court records.
Roman-Roman was part of the management of Mexican restaurants in the metro-east, according to court records.
Todd M. Schultz, the federal public defender representing Roman-Roman, could not be reached for comment.
Roman-Roman was arrested on April 11 in Carlyle on the federal immigration charge, according to a complaint filed in federal court. He was remanded to the custody of federal officials on April 14. Roman-Roman has been “removed on two prior occasions from the United States to Mexico” — most recently on July 12, 2019, at Laredo, according to the complaint.
In November, he was arrested in O’Fallon on charges of driving under the influence, driving under the influence/BAC .08 and wrong way on divided highway. This case is pending in St. Clair County court. Belleville attorney Jack Kloess is representing Roman-Roman in the DUI case and could not be reached for comment.
Mayorie Fernandez-Ormeno, 36
Mayorie Fernandez-Ormeno faces one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, access device fraud, attempted access device fraud and illegal reentry after deportation in Madison County and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
Her trial in federal court is scheduled for July 22.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Ethan Skaggs is representing Fernandez-Ormeno and could not be reached for comment.
Fernandez-Ormeno, who is from Chile, was removed from the United States in 2023.
The indictment alleges that Fernandez-Ormeno and a co-defendant who is also from Chile would go to stores and one would act as lookout and another would steal credit cards out of shoppers’ bags when they weren’t looking.
They would then go to another store and use the stolen credit cards. This scheme occurred between February 2024 and April 2024. In one case, they used a stolen card to buy about $2,700 in goods and in another case they purchased about $2,500 in goods, according to the indictment.
Josue Lopez-Serrano, 35
Josue Lopez-Serrano pleaded guilty to illegal reentry after deportation on June 4.
Lopez-Serrano pleaded guilty to one charge of reckless conduct in Monroe County on Feb. 11, the same day Lopez-Serrano was arrested for the federal charge of illegal reentry.
In the federal case, Lopez-Serrano was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Ankoor Shah and in the Monroe County case, he was represented by Arthur Morris, the public defender in the county. Neither Shah nor Morris could be reached for comment.
Angel Carmona-Perez, 45
Angel Carmona-Perez pleaded on June 5 guilty to illegal reentry. Carmona-Perez had previously been removed from the country in 2013. Carmona-Perez is represented by Dan Cronin, a federal public defender who could not be reached for a comment.
According to a federal complaint, Carmona-Perez was arrested in Madison County on a warrant for failure to appear in court on a pending domestic battery charge from May 2024. He doesn’t have an assigned attorney from the local public defender’s office since this charge is a misdemeanor.
Gaspar Lux-Lopez, 30
Gaspar Lux-Lopez pleaded not guilty to illegal reentry. His next court appearance will be a jury trial on Aug. 4 at the federal courthouse in East St. Louis before U.S. District Judge David W. Dugan. Lux-Lopez is represented by Ethan Skaggs, a federal public defender who could not be reached for a comment.
Lux-Lopez was found to have reentered the U.S. following a traffic stop in Granite City. According to federal court records, ICE agents were conducting surveillance at another Granite City address on the same day and saw Lux-Lopez exit the home and leave in a vehicle.
When officers stopped him, he presented them with identification issued in Guatemala. Officers also discovered he had a case in Franklin County, Ohio, for domestic violence and assault charges, which was closed in February 2019. He had previously been deported in June 2019.
Lux-Lopez was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
This story was originally published July 7, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
