U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 116 Border-Related Cases This Week

SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 116 border-related cases this week, including charges of 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 August 7, Apolinar Diaz Lopez, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers discovered 180 pounds of methamphetamine concealed throughout the vehicle he was driving as he applied for entry to the U.S. at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
• On August 10, Lino Vega-Martinez, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the United States. According to a complaint, Border Patrol agents found Vega-Martinez hiding in large bushes approximately four and a half miles east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and three miles north of the United States/Mexico International Boundary.  
• On August 11, Carmen Ivette Hernandez-Vergara, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found a Chinese national hiding under a blanket in the trunk of the vehicle Hernandez-Vergara was driving as she applied for entry into the United States at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

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.