Source: Office of United States Attorneys
PHOENIX, Ariz. – During two weeks of enforcement operations from January 21, 2025, through February 3, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona has brought immigration-related criminal charges against over 500 defendants. Specifically, the Office charged 565 defendants with immigration-related crimes. These cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Apart from interdiction efforts at the border, Federal law enforcement has been prioritizing immigration enforcement operations and prosecutions of aliens unlawfully in the interior of the country who have connections to criminal activity in the United States, including those who commit drug and firearms crimes, who have serious criminal records, who have active warrants for their arrest, or who have outstanding final orders of removal from the United States issued by an immigration judge. Federal authorities have also been prioritizing investigations and prosecutions against drug, firearms, and alien smugglers and those who endanger and threaten the safety of our communities and the law enforcement officers who protect us all.
Recent matters of interest include:
United States v. Edwin Santiago Marquez Flores: On January 27, 2025, Edwin Santiago Marquez Flores was under surveillance by HSI special agents on suspicion of engaging in human smuggling activity via social media. During a traffic stop, Marquez was found to be illegally in possession of two Century Arms AK47-style rifles, along with over $1,400 in U.S. currency. He was charged by criminal complaint with being an Alien in Possession of a Firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5). Marquez admitted to being in the United States without legal status and admitted that he picked up the rifles with the intention that they be smuggled into Mexico. Marquez further admitted that he had sold approximately 50 firearms, including 40 to one specific individual who smuggles them to Mexico. He also admitted to transporting and selling cocaine in the United States and to coordinating approximately 300 drivers to smuggle approximately 800-1,000 illegal aliens within the United States. In total, Marquez said he was paid over $1.2 million for his smuggling activities. Case No. 25-3007 MJ.
United States v. Jason Kyle Dunn: On January 31, 2025, Jason Kyle Dunn, a U.S. Citizen, was charged with smuggling aliens in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324. Dunn was encountered at a U.S. Border Patrol immigration checkpoint on Interstate 19, driving a Ford F-550. After a human-detecting canine alerted to the vehicle, aliens were found concealed inside toolboxes in the bed of the truck. Specifically, Border Patrol found one subject locked in the driver’s side toolbox, two locked in the passenger side toolbox, and three locked in the main toolbox. The smuggled aliens reported they had no way of opening the toolboxes from the inside and that they had been locked inside the toolboxes for up to two hours before being rescued by Border Patrol. Case No. 25-8428 MJ.
United States v. Alfonso Garcia Vega: On February 2, 2025, ICE ERO Phoenix arrested Alfonso Garcia Vega, a Mexican citizen and criminal alien, who had previously been removed after a federal felony conviction and had unlawfully returned to the United States. Vega was charged by criminal complaint for illegal reentry after deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a), as enhanced by 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b) because of his prior felony convictions in the United States. Court papers in that prior case reflect that Garcia Vega’s criminal history includes DUIs, assault, illegal reentry, a drug trafficking offense, and misconduct involving weapons. See United States v. Alfonso Garcia-Vega, No. CR-19-00198-PHX-DLR. ICE ERO began its investigation in this matter based on a referral from ATF that Garcia Vega had previously attempted to illegally buy a firearm in the United States, and which purchase had been denied. Garcia Vega had been deported from the United States in 2020 pursuant to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge after his 2019 federal felony conviction, for which he was sentenced to two years in custody. ICE officers attempted to consensually encounter and arrest Garcia Vega while he was on the sidewalk in front of his residence, but he fled into his residence in an attempt to avoid arrest. ICE ERO then obtained an arrest warrant to enter the residence. Case No. 25-3078 MJ.
A criminal complaint is simply a method by which a person is charged with criminal activity and raises no inference of guilt. An individual is presumed innocent until evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
CASE NUMBER: 25-3007 MJ
25-8428 MJ
25-3078 MJ
RELEASE NUMBER: 2025-014_Immmigration Enforcement