U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 133 Border-Related Cases This Week

SAN DIEGO - Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 133 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 March 9, Yu Zou, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and charged with Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain. According to a complaint, Zou applied for admission to the U.S. in the vehicle lanes of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry by presenting false immigration documents on behalf of his passenger. Zou was taken into custody after Customs and Border Protection officers determined the passenger was a citizen of China who was unauthorized to enter the U.S.
• On March 10, Carlos David Lizarraga Santos, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found 41 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in the dash and gas tank of the defendant's vehicle as he applied for admission to the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
• On March 10, Johan Estuardo Garcia-Grajeda, a citizen of Guatemala, was arrested and charged with Attempted Entry after Deportation. The unauthorized immigrant was arrested by Border Patrol agents in the U.S., about five miles west of the Tecate Port of Entry. He was previously deported in October 2025.

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.