U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 122 Border-Related Cases This Week

SAN DIEGO - Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 122 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 June 18, Manuel Salvador Hernandez Perez, Mexican national and border crossing card holder, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers discovered 185 pounds of methamphetamine in the hood, spare tire and tailgate of the Ford F-150 truck driven by Hernandez Perez while applying for entry to the U.S. at the the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
• On June 22, Ismael Molina-Ayala, a Mexican national, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the United States. According to a complaint, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered the undocumented defendant approximately three miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. He was previously convicted of immigration offenses and deported three times, including May 2026 from San Diego.
• On June 23, Jose Alonso Fernandez-Zavala and Edgar Luna-Ochoa, Mexican nationals, were arrested and charged with Attempted Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain. According to a complaint, the defendants were co-captains of a panga-style smuggling vessel and were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard about 15 miles west of Point Loma. The vessel had 25 Mexican nationals and 1 Guatemalan national aboard, none of whom had lawful immigration status in the United States. Each passenger was paying between $4,000 and $17,000 to be smuggled into the United States by sea. The remaining defendants (Juve Garcia Santiago, Manuel Hernandez-Savedra, Leticia Policarpio Juarez Manuel Ramos, Francisco Roman Velasquez, Sureyma Velazquez Velazquez - all Mexican citizens, and Jose Lopez-Mendoza of Guatemala) had all been previously ordered removed from the United States and were charged with attempted reentry after deportation.

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.