US Attorney for the Western District of Texas departs
AUSTIN (KXAN) — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza is “departing” from the office, according to a Department of Justice press release.
The Western District of Texas is comprised of 93,000 square miles, 68 counties and covers 660 miles of the U.S./Mexico border.
There are divisional offices in:
- Austin
- El Paso
- Del Rio
- Waco
- San Antonio
- Pecos-Alpine
- Midland-Odessa
The release said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Leachman is now serving as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas.
Leachman has been with the Western District of Texas for more than 30 years and has served in numerous roles, including as Senior Litigation Counsel, Chief of the Criminal Division, Chief of the El Paso Division and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Appellate and Major Crimes sections.
Esparza was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2022. He led the “handling of more than 41,000 federal criminal prosecutions—including immigration, drugs, firearm, white collar and violent crime—and more than 10,000 civil cases in the southern border district,” the release said,
Other notable programs he helped facilitate were outreach programs “to educate the public on the dangers of fentanyl and machine gun conversion devices” and brought awareness to domestic violence issues.
Prior to this role, Esparza served as the District Attorney for the 34th Judicial District of Texas in El Paso from 1993 to 2020.
