U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 108 Border-Related Cases This Week

SAN DIEGO - Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 108 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 9, Moises Quintana Luna and Alma Beltran Ponce, Mexican citizens, were arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers discovered 151 pounds of methamphetamine concealed throughout the defendants' vehicle as they tried to cross the border at the Tecate Port of Entry.
• On May 11, Banucio Balderas-Ladino, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the United States. According to a complaint, Border Patrol agents found Balderas-Ladino, an unauthorized alien who was previously deported in 2019 through Arizona, hiding in bushes north of the border, about two miles east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
• On May 14, Rene Marquez, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and charged with Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found two Vietnamese nationals concealed in a non-factory compartment in the rear of the defendant's vehicle. One of the unauthorized aliens said she felt scared, hot and was doused in gasoline while being transported to the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Marquez has four prior drug-importation convictions in the Southern District of California.

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.