U.S. Attorney’s Office Filed 83 Border-Related Cases This Week

SAN DIEGO - Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of California filed 83 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 1, Alexis Rios, 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 unauthorized immigrants from Guatemala concealed in a non-factory compartment beneath the spare tire wheel well of the defendant's car at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
• On May 4, Juan Manuel Quintana Amador, a Mexican national, was arrested and charged with Importation of a Controlled Substance. According to a complaint, Customs and Border Protection officers found more than 25 pounds of cocaine concealed in the bathroom wall of a commercial passenger bus applying for entry to the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
• On May 5, Jose Miguel Carcamo Maradiaga, a citizen of Honduras, was arrested and charged with Deported Alien Found in the United States. According to a complaint, Border Patrol agents found the defendant hiding in the brush approximately one mile north of the border and six miles west of the Tecate Port of Entry He was previously deported to Honduras in August 2024 through Alexandria, Louisiana.

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.