U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 131 Border-Related Cases This Week (DOJ)

SAN DIEGO - Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 131 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 29, Alfredo Chavez Montoya and Claudia Patricia Rivera, citizens of Mexico, were arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found 113 pounds of cocaine concealed in the ceiling, dashboard, center console, floor and back seat rest of their vehicle when they applied for entry to the U.S. at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
• On March 30, Frances Goenett, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers discovered 102 pounds of methamphetamine and three pounds of fentanyl hidden in the car she was driving when she applied for entry to the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
• On April 1, Gonzalo Vargas-Castaneda, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested and charged with Attempted Entry After Deportation. According to a complaint, the defendant presented fraudulent documents to Customs and Border Protection officials while trying to cross into the United States in the pedestrian lanes of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Vargas-Castaneda had been previously removed from the United States in 2011 via Nogales, Arizona, and in 2025 via San Ysidro.
• On March 31, Edgar Eduardo Valencia, a United States citizen, was arrested and charged with Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain. According to a complaint, Valencia attempted to cross the border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry with an undocumented immigrant in the passenger seat. The immigrant told Customs and Border Protection officers that he is a U.S. citizen from Yuma, Arizona. Unconvinced officers further questioned the passenger, who eventually said he is a Mexican citizen who was not being charged a smuggling fee in exchange for transporting drugs for the defendant once in the U.S.

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.