Opinion ID: 1035557
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Salas

Text: Salas is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who cannot speak or understand English. During most of the period at issue in this case, Salas resided in Laredo, Texas, where he used an “assumed Social Security number” and the criminal alias “Daniel Obregon.” Salas was apprehended in January 2010 as part of the joint DEA/IRS “Operation Reload,” which targeted U.S. appendages of the Mexican drug cartels, Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel. Salas was convicted of running a large-scale cocaine and marijuana trafficking operation out of Laredo—an epicenter of U.S.-Mexico drug trafficking—while ostensibly working as a Spanish-language car salesman. Before moving to Laredo and displaying sudden, large amounts of wealth, Salas worked behind the counter at a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Dallas. The district court found that Salas moved from Dallas to Laredo, at the behest of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, where he organized and led a drug trafficking operation from the Laredo border to various points throughout the United States.