Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
MIAMI – A Venezuelan national and suspected member of the violent transnational Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang who used the now-disabled Customs and Border Protection (CBP) One Application to enter the United States in 2023, has been charged with possessing a firearm as an illegal alien – a federal crime.
Luis Ernesto Veliz Riera, 23, made his initial appearance yesterday before a magistrate judge in the Southern District of Florida. According to the unsealed criminal complaint affidavit, Veliz Riera was allowed to enter the United States at the Mexico-El Paso, Texas border in February 2023, after appearing for an appointment he booked online through the (now inactive) CBP One Application system. Prior to being shut down on January 20, 2025, the online system allowed undocumented aliens to submit information and schedule appointments at eight southwest United States border ports of entry.
On the day he entered, CBP presented Veliz Riera with a Notice to Appear for a hearing before an immigration judge in Las Vegas, Nevada – where he told officials he was headed. According to the affidavit, Veliz-Ruiz skipped his immigration hearing and stayed in El Paso, waiting for his girlfriend (also a Venezuelan national) to illegally cross from Mexico into the United States in April-May 2023. The couple traveled together from El Paso to Chicago – to New York City – and finally to Homestead, Florida. On April 30, 2024, an immigration judge entered an order to remove Veliz Riera from the United States after he failed to appear in immigration court or otherwise report to immigration authorities.
On October 17, 2024, in connection with an investigation into potential TdA illegal activity, local law enforcement stopped a car that Veliz Riera was driving. Records and other checks showed that Veliz Riera was wanted on an open state crime warrant and that he was in the country illegally. Further investigation showed that, despite his illegal status, Veliz Ruiz kept a Taurus, PT609 Pro 9mm, semi-automatic handgun with a 30-round magazine inside the Homestead hotel room he shared with his girlfriend and that he had loaded the gun earlier that day, says the affidavit.
On October, 17, 2024, Veliz Ruiz was arrested on state charges.
On November 16, 2024, based on his illegal status, Veliz Riera went into immigration detention where he was released into the community on electronic monitoring.
On February 3, 2025, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) administratively arrested Veliz Riera to reexamine the decision to release him from immigration detention.
On February 14, 2025, Miami federal prosecutors charged Veliz Riera with one count of possessing a firearm as an illegal alien, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g)(5)(A). During his initial appearance in federal court today, Veliz Riera agreed to remain in Bureau of Prisons custody pending trial.
United States Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida and Acting Special Agent in Charge Jose R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.
HSI-Miami’s Fort Lauderdale office is investigating the case. HSI federal task force officers from Homestead Police Department, City of Miami Police Department, Sweetwater Police Department, and Broward Sheriff’s Office assisted, as did United States Border Patrol-Dania Beach Station, ATF Miami, ICE-ERO Miami, and FBI Miami.
Assistant United States Attorney Kseniya Smychkouskaya is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 25-mj-02303.
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