Initially a commander of the Magonista rebellion of 1911, he later joined the Maderistas and continued to support the constitutionalist movement until the culmination of the Mexican Revolution.

On 28 January 1911, Leyva and his lieutenant Simón Berthold led a detachment of 17 men across the United States-Mexico border.

[4] At Laguna Salada, the Mexicali detachment divided itself, with Leyva leading 140 men towards Tecate and Berthold taking the remaining 60 towards El Alamo.

[7] After the constitutionalist victory in the Battle of Ciudad Juárez, Leyva switched revolutionary factions from the Magonistas to the Maderistas.

In June, the government of Francisco León de la Barra appointed Leyva to head a peace commission to Baja California, in order to convince the rebels to lay down their arms.