U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 97 Border-Related Cases This Week

SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 97 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 September 5, Marco Arizmendi-Rodriguez, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Attempted Entry after Deportation. According to a complaint, Border Patrol agents intercepted the defendant as he slowly crawled across terrain near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry after he illegally crossed into the United States from Mexico. The defendant was previously deported to Mexico in June 2011 from Calexico.
• On September 7, Jesus Campos, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found 54 pounds of fentanyl and four pounds of heroin concealed in his vehicle when he applied for entry in the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
• On September 8, Cesar Verdugo-Cabrera, Santos Martinez-Almaraz, Ricardo Natividad Nunez-Pacheco and Jose Carmelo Ortiz-Castro, citizens of Mexico and Guatemala, were arrested by Customs and Border Protection officers after a short pursuit at sea. According to a complaint, Verdugo was charged with Attempted Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain as the alleged captain of a panga-style fishing vessel carrying undocumented immigrants; the others were charged with Attempted Entry after Deportation.

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.