A 42-year-old Texas woman, Michelle Lee Varela, has been taken into custody for threatening an Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) agent, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.

Varela made her initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge in San Antonio after a criminal complaint was unsealed. She is expected to appear soon in federal court in Corpus Christi.

The charges allege that on June 4, Varela threatened a federal officer via cell phone while authorities conducted a lawful immigration action. When asked about her husband’s immigration status, Varela reportedly used profanity and threatened to shoot the agents if her husband was taken into custody. Despite warnings, she continued speaking in a threatening tone before hanging up.

If convicted, Varela faces up to 10 years in federal prison for threatening a federal officer and up to five years for using interstate communications to transmit a threat. Both charges carry possible fines up to $250,000.

“The Southern District of Texas takes allegations of threatened violence against law enforcement very seriously,” said Ganjei.

The investigation was conducted by ICE-HSI with assistance from the Goliad County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Patti Hubert Booth is prosecuting the case.