Source: Office of United States Attorneys
SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 153 border-related cases this week, including charges of assault on a federal officer, bringing in aliens for financial gain, reentering the U.S. after deportation, and importation of controlled substances.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California is the fourth-busiest federal district, largely due to a high volume of border-related crimes. This district, encompassing San Diego and Imperial counties, shares a 140-mile border with Mexico. It includes the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world’s busiest land border crossing, connecting San Diego (America’s eighth largest city) and Tijuana (Mexico’s second largest city).
In addition to reactive border-related crimes, the Southern District of California also prosecutes a significant number of proactive cases related to terrorism, organized crime, drugs, white-collar fraud, violent crime, cybercrime, human trafficking and national security. Recent developments in those and other significant areas of prosecution can be found here.
A sample of border-related arrests this week:
- On May 11, Mario Santiago-Velasquez, a Mexican national, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in The United States. According to a complaint, Santiago-Velasquez was previously convicted of five immigration crimes and Malicious Destruction of Property.
- On May 12, Juan Jose Perez-Garcia, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of five immigration-related offenses including felony reentry-after-deportation in 2023, was sentenced in federal court to seven months in custody for again entering the U.S. illegally.
- On May 13, Juan Nazario Lizarraga Peralta, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Lizarraga was attempting to enter the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry when he was intercepted by Customs and Border Patrol agents with seven pounds of fentanyl and 11 pounds of cocaine strapped to his body.
- On May 13, Oscar Echevarria-Luque, a Mexican national, was arrested and charged with illegal importation of cocaine. According to a complaint, Luque applied for entry through the Calexico, California East Port of Entry in a Kenworth truck towing a car hauler. Upon inspection of the trailer, Customs and Border Protection officers found 92.18kg (203.22 pounds) of cocaine concealed in the frame of the trailer.
- On May 14, Ernesto Alejandro Rodriguez Gallegos, a Mexican national, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Rodriguez attempted to cross the border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with 135 pounds of cocaine hidden in his vehicle.
Also recently, a number of defendants with criminal records were convicted by a jury or sentenced for border-related crimes such as illegally re-entering the U.S. after previous deportation. Here are a few of those cases:
- On May 16, Serafin Abelino-Medel, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of felony inflicting corporal injury on a spouse, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, and threatening crime with intent to terrorize, was sentenced in federal court to 15 months in custody for again entering the United States illegally.
- On May 16, Isaac Lopez-Rodriguez, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of Attempt to Commit Aggravated Assault in 2015, was sentenced in federal court to two years in custody for again entering the U.S illegally.
Pursuant to the Department’s Operation Take Back America priorities, federal law enforcement has focused immigration prosecutions on undocumented aliens who are engaged in criminal activity in the U.S., including those who commit drug and firearms crimes, who have serious criminal records, or who have active warrants for their arrest. Federal authorities have also been prioritizing investigations and prosecutions against drug, firearm, and human smugglers and those who endanger and threaten the safety of our communities and the law enforcement officers who protect the community.
The immigration cases were referred or supported by federal law enforcement partners, including Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), Customs and Border Protection, 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), with the support and assistance of state and local law enforcement partners.
Indictments and criminal complaints are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.