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 July 19, Marcos Chavez-Nieto, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien found in the U.S. According to a complaint, Border Patrol agents encountered Chavez entering the United States illegally in the mountains east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, after having been ordered removed from the United States in 2020.
• On July 20, Rosario Lopez Gamez and Jose Manuel Aguero Garcia, Mexican nationals, were arrested and charged with Attempted Bringing in Aliens for Financial Gain. According to a complaint, Lopez and Aguero were the captains of a smuggling vessel that was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard about six miles off the coast of Point Loma. The five undocumented aliens aboard the vessel included Jeremy Marin Avilez, who was charged with Attempted Reentry after Deportation. He was previously deported in 2024 from Texas.
• On July 21, Marly Soledad Cruz Guardado, a United States citizen, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found more than 133 pounds of methamphetamine and almost nine pounds of cocaine concealed inside the doors, dashboard, glove compartment, firewall and quarter panels of her Volkswagen Tiguan as she applied for entry into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

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.