A South Texas immigration attorney has pleaded not guilty in federal court to criminal charges that he bribed immigration detention employees to obtain “alien detainee roster lists” for cash payments, with the goal of using the information to solicit clients.

Roel Alanis, 39, of the Alanis Law Firm in Weslaco, appeared in court Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III in Brownsville to enter a plea on the seven charges in the indictment, which was unsealed Wednesday.