SAN DIEGO – Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 114 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 May 15, Jose Alberto Garcia Zamudio, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found more than 466 pounds of cocaine concealed in the gas tank of a commercial passenger bus driven by the defendant. Garcia, who had applied for entry to the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, admitted being paid $13,000 to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. On May 19, Ashley Aremy Ruiz, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and charged with Attempted Transportation of Illegal Aliens and Conspiracy to Transport Aliens. According to a complaint, Ruiz was taken into custody at Costco in Chula Vista when she attempted to pick up an alien from a smuggler who had been caught with the alien in his trunk while trying to cross into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. On May 20, Federico Cruz Alverdin, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the United States. According to a complaint, Border Patrol agents found the defendant hiding in a tree about half a mile north of the border and 13 miles east of the Tecate Port of Entry. He was previously deported to Mexico on May 1, 2026, through Phoenix, 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.