Texas Border Business
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas
HOUSTON – U.S. Attorney Aaron F. Reitz has issued strategic guidance outlining the Southern District of Texas’s law enforcement, prosecution, and investigation priorities, as well as the principles he expects to guide the office’s work.
See full text linked here and below:
We all swore an oath to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies—foreign and domestic.” That’s our mission as a U.S. Attorney’s Office: to uphold the Constitution and Rule of Law against their enemies in federal court.
The survival of our republic depends on the foundation of a self-governing people. Written law—like the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and federal statutes—orders complex civilizations like ours. But that only works for a people who first rule themselves. Law-followers get freedom, peace, and independence. Law-breakers get the sword—removed from civil society and punished through swift, certain, and fair prosecution.
That’s where we come in: advancing the Rule of Law so that law-abiding individuals, families, and communities can flourish, free from the predations of criminals and criminality.
To that end, we will organize our resources, focus our efforts, and use our prosecutorial discretion in the aggressive pursuit of the following law-enforcement priorities.
PRIORITIES
- Enhance public safety
We will relentlessly reduce the violence that flows from gangs, recidivists, drug and human traffickers, and those with no respect for human life.
- Destroy transnational criminal and foreign terrorist organizations
We will hunt down cartels and other criminal enterprises that deal in drugs, women and children, weapons, and illegal aliens, and smoke out their networks of bosses, money launderers, stash houses, suppliers, and allies.
- Defend American sovereignty
We will secure our border and help deport and punish illegal aliens, whose very existence on American soil is criminal. We will protect the integrity of our elections. We will guard our institutions against foreign interference.
- Eradicate public corruption
We will hold accountable those in power who betray public trust through bribery, procurement or grant fraud, election crimes, and abuse of office.
- Protect the American taxpayer against fraud
We will ensure that taxpayer dollars are used only for their lawful intended purpose by prosecuting those who fraudulently steal funds or rig systems related to federal benefits, government contracts, natural disasters, and immigration.
CHARACTER
As we pursue these priorities, we will do so with the following character traits:
- Judgment
Understanding right and wrong, good and evil, and how to distinguish between them, weigh consequences wisely, and act with prudence.
- Justice
Giving to every person what he is owed, without fear or favor, in fidelity to law and truth.
- Integrity
Doing the right thing every time—aligning word, deed, and conscience so that our conduct in the dark is the same as in the light.
- Courage
Exercising the moral strength to do what is right despite danger, pressure, or personal cost in the pursuit of worthy objectives.
- Loyalty
Showing faithfulness to and solidarity with America’s founding principles, the Constitution and our Article II Executive Power role within it, the law, our oath, the Office, and your colleagues.
SDTX LEADS THE WAY
The Southern District of Texas is at the forefront of the most sophisticated federal law enforcement work in the nation. No other district has the combined diversity and complexity of scale, geography, population, coastline, economy, or border like we do. The sheer scope of SDTX means we carry a responsibility that no other district carries.
I intend for us to meet that responsibility. Together, we will drive the President’s and Attorney General’s law enforcement priorities harder, faster, more effectively, and more aggressively than any office in the country. The stakes here are higher than anywhere else. We must seek justice. And we must win. Duty demands it and the citizens of this district deserve nothing less.
Updated September 24, 2026
