U.S. Attorney’s Office files over 110 border-related cases in California

SAN DIEGO (KYMA) - The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California filed 111 border-related cases this week.

The DOJ says the cases include charges of bringing in undocumented migrants for financial gain, reentering the U.S. after being deported and importing drugs into the country.

In addition, the Southern District of California, according to the DOJ, is also prosecuting "a significant number of proactive cases related to terrorism, organized crime, drugs, white-collar fraud, violent crime, cybercrime, human trafficking and national security."

The DOJ also says the Southern District of California provided a sample of the following border-related arrests:

• Saul Castro Valenzuela was arrested and charged after the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a white sport fishing vessel, carrying 21 undocumented migrants, as it entered Mission Bay Saturday. 16 of the passengers were previously removed from the U.S., and were arrested and charged with attempting to reenter the country after they were deported.

• Salvador Lopez Chee, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and charged after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) found 131 pounds of cocaine in the walls of his Ford F-150 truck as he was applying for reentry in the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry Sunday.

• Hector Bejerano-Bejarano, a Mexican national, was arrested and charged after Border Patrol agents found him over two miles north of the border and five miles west of the Tecate Port of Entry Wednesday. Bejerano-Bejarano has three prior felony immigrantion convictions.

The immigration cases, according to the DOJ, were referred to, or supported by, the following federal law enforcement partners:

• CBP
• U.S Border Patrol
• Homeland Security Investigations
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations
• Drug Enforcement Administration
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• U.S. Marshals Service
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California encompasses both San Diego and Imperial Counties.

To learn more about the cases, read the press release below.