Federal prosecutors in San Diego and Imperial counties filed 153 border-related criminal cases this week, targeting crimes ranging from drug smuggling to illegal reentry and assaults on federal officers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
This region, which includes the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world’s busiest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, remains one of the nation’s most active areas for border-related federal prosecutions.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, the individuals charged this week included repeat immigration offenders and alleged drug smugglers.
Mario Santiago-Velasquez, a Mexican national with five prior immigration convictions, was arrested on May 11 for illegally reentering the United States after being deported, prosecutors said. The next day, Juan Jose Perez-Garcia, a Mexican national with five previous immigration offenses, was sentenced to seven months in federal prison for illegally entering the United States again.
Drug trafficking cases at major entry points such as San Ysidro and Calexico continue to dominate.
According to Customs officials, U.S. citizen Juan Nazario Lizarraga Peralta was apprehended at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on May 13 with seven pounds of fentanyl and 11 pounds of cocaine strapped to his body.
The same day, Customs and Border Protection officers at the Calexico East Port of Entry discovered more than 200 pounds of cocaine hidden in the frame of a trailer driven by Oscar Echevarria-Luque, a Mexican national, the agency said.
On May 14, Ernesto Alejandro Rodriguez Gallegos, also from Mexico, was arrested in San Ysidro for allegedly smuggling 135 pounds of cocaine in his vehicle, according to prosecutors.
This week, federal judges sentenced previously deported individuals with violent criminal histories.
Serafin Abelino-Medel, who had previously been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and corporal injury to a spouse, was sentenced to 15 months in federal custody on May 16. That same day, Isaac Lopez-Rodriguez was sentenced to two years in prison for illegally reentering the country after being convicted of attempted aggravated assault in 2015.
The US Attorney’s Office emphasized that these prosecutions are consistent with the Department of Justice’s “Operation Take Back America” initiative, which targets undocumented immigrants with criminal records, drug and firearm offenses, and threats to public and law enforcement safety.
