Source: Office of United States Attorneys
SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 91 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 July 28, Martin ALFARO Arambula, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, ALFARO 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 221.18 kgs (487.62 lbs.) of cocaine.
- On July 29, Luis Antonio CARCAMO and Isabel VERA-Cortes were arrested and charged with bringing in and harboring certain aliens. According to a complaint, U.S. Border Patrol Agents were conducting a pro-active patrol of Interstate 5, when they observed a suspicious vehicle. Following a traffic stop on the suspicious vehicle, U.S. Border Patrol Agents conducted an immigration inspection on the driver and passengers of the vehicle later identified as CARCAMO and VERA, who identified themselves as United States Citizens. After U.S. Border Patrol Agents learned that the third occupant of the vehicle was a citizen of Mexico without immigration documents, Border Patrol Agents placed CARCAMO and VERA under arrest for alien smuggling.
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 July 29, Abner Leon-Mote, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon in April 2018, was sentenced in federal court to 30 months in custody for again entering the U.S. illegally.
- On July 29, Juan Carlos Luna Valenzuela, a Mexican national who was convicted of illegal entry and deported in 2024, was sentenced in federal court to 67 days’ in custody for again entering the U.S illegally. He was also sentenced to an additional, consecutive 30 days’ custody for violating probation in his prior illegal entry case.
- On July 31, Gustavo Sanchez Meneses, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of felony sexual abuse of a child for which he served 12 years in state custody and was deported in 2022, was sentenced in federal court to 15 months in custody for entering the U.S illegally.
- On August 1, Antonio Reyes-Camacho, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of a felony in 2023 and twice removed from the U.S., was sentenced in federal court to time served for being found unlawfully in the U.S.
- On August 1, Noe Dario Lopez Saavedra, a Mexican national who worked as a ministerial officer at the Attorney General’s Office in Mexico, was sentenced in federal court to 21 months in custody for participating in an international conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
- On August 1, Sabino Valderas-Largo, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of five DUI offenses, including a felony DUI, was sentenced in federal court to 30 months in custody, followed by 3 years of supervised release for again entering the U.S illegally.
- On August 1, Ricardo Barajas-Beltran, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of Trafficking in Cocaine, Trafficking in Methamphetamine, Trafficking in Illegal Drugs, Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute, Possession of Marijuana more than One Ounce, and Possession of Sawed-Off Shotgun, Sawed-Off Rifle, Machine Gun, Dangerous Weapon, or Silencer in 2019, was sentenced in federal court to 30 months in custody, followed by 2 years of supervised release 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.