U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 90 Border-Related Cases This Week

SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 90 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 June 20, Jose Natalio Flores Avila, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, when the motorist attempted to cross the border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, Customs and Border Protection Officers found 95 packages containing 103 pounds of methamphetamine, and one package containing 2.5 pounds of heroin, concealed in the firewall, driver’s side quarter panel, passenger side rear quarter panel, front bumper, driver’s side fender, passenger side fender and dashboard.
• On June 22, Jason Miguel Byrd-Gallegos and Jose Ricardo Ayala were arrested and charged with Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain on a boat that was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard off Point Loma. Fidel Ayala-Romero, Jesus Briseno-Martinez, Jose Antonio Navarro-Alvarez and Jose Miguel Verduzco, who were among the passengers, were charged with Attempted Entry after Deportation. According to a complaint, the boat had 10 undocumented immigrants aboard, including the six defendants. All but one were determined to be citizens of Mexico; Byrd-Gallegos is a U.S. citizen.
• On June 23, Fernando Carillo Ramos was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the U.S. According to a complaint, Border Patrol agents found the defendant hiding in large bushes less than a mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The defendant had been previously deported to Mexico in December 2024.

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’s one of those cases:

• On June 27, Omar Esteban Garcia-Rodriguez, a Mexican national who was previously convicted of Assault with a Deadly Weapon/Great Bodily Injury in 2020, was sentenced in federal court to 18 months 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.