U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico Weekly Immigration and Border Crimes Report

ALBUQUERQUE - Today, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico announced its immigration enforcement statistics for this week. These cases are prosecuted in partnership with the El Paso Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, along with Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, and assistance from other federal, state, and county agencies.

In the one-week period ending April 11, 2025, the United States Attorney's Office brought the following criminal charges in New Mexico:

• 63 individuals were charged this week with Illegal Reentry After Deportation (8 U.S.C. 1326)
• 4 individuals were charged this week with Alien Smuggling (8 U.S.C. 1324)
• 38 individuals were charged this week with Illegal Entry (8 U.S.C. 1325)

Many of the defendants charged pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1326 had prior criminal convictions, with some of those convictions being for drug trafficking, alien smuggling, and grand theft.

It was announced this week that a Guatemalan citizen, previously convicted of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 14, was sentenced to 100 months in prison for illegally reentering the United States on July 23, 2024. This reentry occurred just three months after his most recent removal from the country.

In a separate case, Jose Soto-Perez and Marco Olvera-Aguilar were each sentenced to 36 months of incarceration for conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death. The April 9, 2024, incident involved the defendants leading a group of migrants across active railroad tracks near the U.S.-Mexico border, where one individual was struck and killed by a train.

These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. [use if applicable] Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

These statistics represent prosecutions by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico only. The numbers do not include individuals apprehended by immigration enforcement officials and subjected solely to administrative process.

Under current leadership, public safety and a secure border are the top priorities for the District of New Mexico. Enhanced enforcement both at the border and in the interior of the district have yielded aliens engaged in unlawful activity or with serious criminal history, including human trafficking, sexual assault and violence against children.

The District of New Mexico consists of 33 counties and shares 180 miles of international border with Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorneys from Albuquerque and Las Cruces work directly with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to prosecute immigration-related and other federal offenses.