MCALLEN, Texas — A federal judge sentenced an illegal alien from Mexico to prison after he pleaded guilty to being part of a cartel rip crew operating in Texas. The criminal alien received ten years in prison for his role in a rolling shootout along a Texas highway.

This week, 27-year-old Eduardo Rodriguez Silva went before U.S. District Judge Randy Crane who sentenced him to five years in prison for drug trafficking and 10 years in prison for using firearms in a drug crime, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed. Rodriguez Silva is originally from Mexico and has no legal status in the U.S. Four other members of the rip crew have been convicted and were previously sentenced.

Rodriguez operated in a cartel-connected rip crew that carried out raids in South Texas. The rip crew would steal drugs at gunpoint along the various highways in this border region. South Texas is considered by law enforcement to be one of the most important drug corridors used by Mexico’s Gulf Cartel to move tons of drugs and illegal immigrants into the country.

According to prosecutors, on October 9, 2015, a car loaded with 246 kilograms (500 pounds) of marijuana was traveling along U.S. Expressway 83 when Rodriguez Silva and two others riding in separate vehicles pulled up to the load vehicle and began spraying gunfire in an effort to stop the truck with the drugs.

Once the vehicle stopped, Rodriguez and the other men loaded the marijuana bundles into their vehicles and fled the scene. Shortly after, authorities arrested two of the cartel gunmen following a high-speed chase. Federal authorities arrested Rodriguez Silva in March.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.