Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California have filed 124 border-related cases this week. The charges include assault on a federal officer, bringing in aliens for financial gain, reentry into the U.S. after deportation, and importation of controlled substances.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, which encompasses San Diego and Imperial counties, shares a 140-mile border with Mexico. It is considered the fourth-busiest federal district, primarily due to the high volume of border-related crimes. This area includes the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which connects San Diego and Tijuana and is known as the world’s busiest land border crossing.
In addition to handling reactive border-related crime, this district prosecutes a broad range of proactive cases linked to terrorism, organized crime, drugs, white-collar fraud, violent crime, cybercrime, human trafficking, and national security.
A notable case from this week occurred on April 28 when Mexican national Jose Maria Murillo Estrada was arrested and charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers and reentry after deportation. According to a complaint, the incident took place at the San Ysidro Port of Entry when Murillo allegedly attempted entry by running through vehicle primary lanes.
Another case, dated April 27, involved U.S. citizen Emma Alejandra Medina. She was arrested and charged with attempted bringing in aliens for financial gain as she was captaining a boat carrying eight undocumented immigrants.
On April 26, Jorge Alexandro Tellez, also a U.S. citizen, faced charges for the importation of a controlled substance. He was intercepted at the San Ysidro Port of Entry’s SENTRI lane with 286 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in his vehicle.
Defendants with existing criminal records were also sentenced or convicted for border-related offenses this week. On May 1, Juan Morales-Lopez, a Mexican national, was sentenced to a total of 30 months in custody for illegal reentry charges and violating the terms of his supervised release. Morales-Lopez has been deported 35 times.
Another case involved Jose Ramon Ochoa-Monteverde, a Mexican national on a Visa, who was sentenced to 84 months for his role in a drug trafficking organization. On April 28, Alejandro Gutierrez-Aguilar was sentenced to 30 months for illegal reentry after a prior conviction.
Federal law enforcement authorities are focusing immigration prosecutions on undocumented individuals engaged in criminal activities, as part of the Department’s Operation Take Back America priorities. The focus is on persons involved in drug and firearm crimes and those with serious criminal records.
These cases were backed by federal law enforcement partners such as Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), and other federal and local agencies.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
