SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 111 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 April 7, Daniel Lopez Patino, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found 124 pounds of cocaine concealed in the door panels and rear quarter panels of Lopez Patino’s vehicle when he applied for entry at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. On April 8, Jesus Obed Mejia Cortez, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Attempted Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain. According to a complaint, the defendant was captain of a fishing vessel that was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard with three undocumented aliens on board, including a man who could not swim and was not given a life vest. Also charged was passenger Diana Eloisa Huerta De Los Santos with Attempted Entry after Deportation. On April 9, Jorge Madrid, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the United States. According to a complaint, a Border Patrol agent found the undocumented alien hiding behind a rock, about a half mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border, east of Tecate. He was previously deported in 2023 from Nogales, Arizona. 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.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — Southern District of California — U.S. Department of Justice press release.