SAN DIEGO — The father of a Marine who was arrested by immigration authorities while visiting his pregnant daughter at Camp Pendleton has a criminal record that includes charges of domestic violence and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.
Esteban Rios was deported to Mexico in 1999, removed from the United States again in 2005 and ordered deported by an immigration judge in 2020 after entering the country illegally a third time, the department said.
The statement was the first detailed account that Homeland Security provided since the Marine, Steve Rios, said last week that his father was detained after visiting the Southern California military base, released with ankle monitors and detained again when reporting days later to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, as ordered.
Homeland Security initially did not provide details when asked several times by The Associated Press on Tuesday for information on any criminal record Esteban Rios had, saying only that “criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.” The department said it had no other information to release.
On Thursday — one day after AP published a story on Esteban Rios, and two days after it sought details from the department — DHS released the detailed account of his criminal record. The department also accused the AP of having “deliberately obscured the facts,” despite the agency having not provided AP with the information it accused the news organization of obscuring.
Steve Rios of Oceanside told San Diego station KNSD that his parents inspired him to enlist in the Marines. He said they came to the U.S. from Mexico more than 30 years ago and have washed cars and cleaned houses for his whole life.
“It was just making them proud, right? I’ve seen all the struggles they’ve gone through,” Steve Rios told the station. “The least I could do, right, and serve this country and try to, you know, put some time in.”
Steve Rios said he and his parents were picking up his younger sister and her husband, who is also a Marine, at Pendleton on Sept. 28, as they have done that every weekend for the past few months while she is expecting her first child. After stopping at the gate, ICE officials arrived to detain both parents, later releasing them with ankle monitors. He said his father was deported Oct. 10.
The Rios family told the station the parents had no criminal record, had pending green card applications sponsored by Steve Rios and authorization to work.
In response to inquiries from AP, Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, issued a statement Tuesday that read, “Under President (Donald) Trump and Secretary (Kristi) Noem, if you break the law — including domestic violence and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon — you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
The statement did not say anything about Esteban Rios, including whether he was arrested or charged with any crime or if he had any immigration history.
When AP followed up to ask whether Esteban Rios and his wife had criminal histories, Luis Alani, a communications strategist at ICE, wrote, “By statute, ICE has no information on these aliens. To clarify, there is no information we can release.”
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is weighing whether to close parts of Interstate 5 beginning Friday amid concerns over what it says is a White House-directed plan to use live ordnance during a military anniversary celebration off Camp Pendleton’s coast in San Diego County — where Navy ships are expected to fire over the freeway onto the base.
Newsom’s office has received, but not confirmed, reports that live ordnance will be fired from offshore vessels during the event commemorating the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary. The event is titled “Sea to Shore — A Review of Amphibious Strength” and will feature Vice President JD Vance.
Newsom’s office said it has received little information about the event or safety plans. The military show of force coincides with No Kings rallies and marches across the state on Saturday that are expected to draw large crowds, demonstrations challenging Trump and what critics say is government overreach.
“Donald Trump and JD Vance think that shutting down the I-5 to shoot out missiles from ships is how you respect the military,” Newsom posted on the social media site X Wednesday.
A military media advisory said the celebration will include a live amphibious assault demonstration. The Times could not confirm whether live ordnance will be fired over the freeway. The White House and Marine Corps did not respond to questions from The Times.
“California always honors our Marines — but this isn’t the right way to go about it,” said a Newsom spokesperson. “The White House should focus on paying their military, lowering grocery prices and honoring these soldiers for their service instead of pompous displays of power. The lack of coordination and communication from the federal government on this event — and the overall impact to our society and economy — is evident of the larger disarray that is the Trump Administration.”
Freeway closures are being considered for a section of I-5 between Orange County to San Diego County from Friday to Saturday, which would cut off a major traffic artery that moves upward of 80,000 travelers a day. A closure with little notice would likely result in massive gridlock from Dana Point in the north to well past Del Mar in the south.
Vance, the first Marine veteran to serve as vice president, is expected to attend the event Saturday along with 15,000 Marines, Sailors, veterans and their families, according to event’s media release. Along with Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to deliver remarks.
Camp Pendleton advised nearby residents that there will be live-fire training with high explosive munitions through Sunday, which will result in some roads on base being closed.
The Trump administration previously had plans for a major celebration next month for the 250th anniversary of the Navy and Marines, which would have included an air and sea show — with the Blue Angels and parading warships — attended by President Trump, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Plans to host that show in San Diego have been called off, the paper reported.
Camp Pendleton is a 125,000-acre base in northwestern San Diego County that has been critical in preparing soldiers for amphibious missions since World War II thanks to its miles of beach and coastal hills. The U.S. Department of Defense is considering making a portion of the base available for development or lease.
In the sweeping Southern California metropolis spanning from Santa Barbara to the Mexico border, Camp Pendleton has long remained the largest undeveloped stretch of the coastline.
The 17 miles of beach and coastal hills has, since World War II, proven critical in preparing soldiers for amphibious missions. The bluffs, canyons and mountainous terrain that comprise the interior of the base has been fertile training ground for those sent to conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.
But change may be on the horizon.
The United States Department of Defense is considering making a portion of the 125,000 acre base in northwestern San Diego County available for development or lease in what, if successful, would be unprecedented for the military installation.
“There’s no place in Southern California like Camp Pendleton when it comes to open space along the coast,” said Bill Fulton, a professor of practice in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at UC San Diego.
Marine recruits rest while the rest of the remaining platoons in their company to catch up at Camp Pendleton in 2020.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
In late August, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan conducted an aerial tour of Camp Pendleton and visited with Marines at the base where he had “initial conversations about possible commercial leasing opportunities” by the Department of Defense, Phelan’s spokesperson Courtney Williams told The Times.
“These opportunities are being evaluated to maximize value and taxpayer dollars while maintaining mission readiness and security,” Williams said in a statement. “No decisions have been made and further discussions are needed.”
Details about the sites being considered for commercial lease remain unclear. Officials with Camp Pendleton declined to comment to The Times.
A view of the sign at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Discussions over the 83-year-old base comes at a time when the Trump administration is more aggressively trying to use public lands to raise money for the federal government and rolling back protections on open space.
The administration this month proposed rescinding a Biden-era rule that sought to protect public lands from industrial development and instead prioritizing the use of the land for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, timber production and livestock grazing.
Secretary Doug Burgum has repeatedly emphasized that federal lands are untapped assets worth trillions of dollars.
“We believe that our natural resources are national assets that should be responsibly developed to grow our economy, help balance the Budget, and generate revenue for American taxpayers,” he said in a statement to Congress in May.
A man takes in the view of Camp Pendleton property. Camp Pendleton has long remained the largest undeveloped stretch of the coastline in California.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
While there has been development on Camp Pendleton those projects have solely been for military uses. A large hospital was recently added, and there are various buildings for the base’s more than 42,000 active duty personnel.
Camp Pendleton has won praise for balancing national security needs with environmental preservation.
In 2022, Camp Pendleton was named the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s military conservation partner of the year for its efforts to support the recovery of several species, including the tidewater goby, coastal California gnatcatcher, the arroyo toad and southern California steelhead.
Conservation and management of the least Bell’s vireo, California least tern, and western snowy plover have resulted in significant increases to on-base populations of these species, according to the agency.
A marine walks through the Santa Margarita River running through Camp Pendleton, where the arroyo toad can be found.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
In addition to endangered populations, the base is home to a herd of North American bison, one of only two wild conservation herds of bison in California.
Past efforts to build more on the camp have not been popular with the public.
In the mid-1990s, the U.S. Marine Corps put forth a plan to build 128 homes for officers and their families on a 32-acre bluff at San Mateo Point near Trestles Beach, one of the nation’s most famous surfing spots. The California Coastal Commission ultimately rejected the project.
In 2021, the Department of the Navy issued a request for information to seek feedback on hosting “critical energy and water infrastructure resiliency projects” on a portion of Camp Pendleton.
In the document, the department sought information on long-term partnerships to plan, design, construct and operate facilities that could include energy generation, transmission and storage, microgrid technologies, water desalination, drought mitigation, stormwater management, reuse or alternative use of decommissioned energy infrastructure, high speed fiber communications, data centers or residential, commercial or industrial purposes.
It is not clear whether any potential projects were identified from the request for information.
Motorists travel the 5 Freeway with military housing at San Mateo Point in the background.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
NBC News reported that funds from development on Camp Pendleton could potentially fund Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense project, citing defense sources. But officials have not publicly specified where funds would be allocated.
Absent specifics, it’s challenging for people in the areas immediately around the base to know what to expect and how to prepare, Fulton said.
“Are we talking about little shopping centers or high-rise hotels?” he said. “You would assume that the military has certain constraints that they would want to impose to protect their activities, but we just don’t know.”
Given the base’s coastal location, development on the site could certainly be fruitful for the federal government. Developers have long had their eye on smaller swaths of coastal land in Southern California. Years-long battles between developers and environmentalists were waged in the fight over proposed housing and commercial developments at Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach and Banning Ranch in Newport Beach. Ultimately, those projects were scrapped.
Camp Pendleton, bordered by San Clemente to the north and Oceanside to the south, opened in 1942 during World War II at a time when the military was looking for large places to train soldiers, particularly for amphibious missions in the Pacific. It became a permanent installation two years later and has trained thousands of service members, sending troops to battle in Operation Desert Storm and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Camp Pendleton has a deeply entwined relationship with its southern neighbor, Oceanside, once a sleepy beachside town turned military city and recreation hub.
In 1940, the city’s population was 4,652. Ten years later, it had swelled to more than 12,800 and grew further as the United States entered the Korean War and more service-connected families moved into the region, according to census data.
Development on the base would certainly have an effect on Oceanside, city leaders say.
Service members and their families frequently travel off the base to surrounding communities to shop and dine out, providing a steady customer supply for local businesses including those that cater heavily to Marines including dry cleaners, tailors, barbershops and military surplus stores. The base’s regional economic impact is more than $6 billion dollars annually, according to the city.
“I think it would be very concerning to see large scale development without collaboration with local municipalities,” said Oceanside Deputy Mayor Eric Joyce. Joyce said the city hasn’t yet been given any insight into the federal government’s plans for the base.
“We have neighborhoods that are literally right up to the gate, who are very impacted when there are changes in traffic or other developments there,” Joyce said, adding that the city has a deep respect for the base and any shifting away from its original mission of training Marines would “be deeply concerning.”
An Orange County man has pleaded guilty to firebombing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa as well as plotting similar attacks elsewhere in Southern California, according to authorities.
Chance Brannon, 24, of San Juan Capistrano pleaded guilty Thursday to four federal charges: malicious destruction of property by fire and explosives, possessing an unregistered destructive device, intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility, and conspiracy.
Brannon, who at the time was an active duty U.S. Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, was one of three suspects arrested in connection with the 2022 attack.
The other two defendants, Tibet Ergul, 22, of Irvine and Xavier Batten, 21, of Brooksville, Fla., have pleaded not guilty to their charges and are scheduled to go to trial in March.
According to Brannon’s plea agreement, the three made plans in February and March 2022 to use a Molotov cocktail against various targets, including the office of the Anti-Defamation League in San Diego. The trio decided to target the Planned Parenthood in Costa Mesa to deter doctors and scare pregnant women from seeking abortions, prosecutors said.
The plea agreement states Brannon and Ergul threw the incendiary weapon at the clinic on the morning of March 13, 2022. It exploded at the front entrance, leaving noticeable damage.
Later that year and into 2023, authorities say Brannon conspired to seek out additional targets, including a second Planned Parenthood clinic and the Dodgers’ LGBTQ+ Pride Night. He also discussed plans to start a “race war” by damaging a utility substation to disrupt Orange County’s power grid, according to the plea agreement.
“This defendant exemplifies the insidious danger posed by domestic extremism,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a statement.
Brannon was arrested in June and has remained in federal custody since.
“Chance is a young man who has made mistakes. He is looking forward to closing out this chapter in his life,” his attorney, Kate Corrigan, wrote in an email.
Brannon is due to be sentenced on April 15. He faces a maximum sentence of 51 years in prison.
A Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern California has been charged with sexual assault of a minor, military officials announced Friday.
The Marine, whose name was not immediately released, was also charged with violating liberty restrictions from a prior, unrelated case, according to a statement obtained by CBS News Friday from a spokesperson for the base, which is located north of San Diego.
This comes after the Marine was detained for questioning by naval investigators when a female minor was found in the Camp Pendleton barracks on June 28, “as seen on a number of social media posts on and after July 2,” the base had reported in a previous statement.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said the teenager ran away from home on June 9. The teen was found in late June inside Camp Pendleton and returned to her grandmother, the sheriff’s department said.
In a TikTok video posted online, a woman identifying herself as the girl’s aunt, Casaundra Perez, said her niece had “been sold to a soldier for sex.” The family asserted the Marines were trying to cover up the sexual assault.
The spokesperson said in Friday’s statement that “after the preliminary hearing the command will review all charges and evidence to determine whether the case should be tried by court martial.”
The command has scheduled the preliminary hearing for Aug. 17 in Camp Pendleton.
— Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in for more features.
A United States Marine has been taken into custody for questioning after a 14-year-old girl who was reported missing was found at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California, last month, authorities said.
The girl was reported missing by her grandmother on June 13, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
On June 28, she was discovered in the barracks at Camp Pendleton. A Marine with Combat Logistics Battalion 5, 1st Marine Logistics Group has since been taken into custody for questioning by Naval Criminal Investigative Services, according to Capt. Charles Palmer, spokesperson for 1st Marine Logistics Group.
“This command takes this matter and all allegations very seriously. The incident is under investigation, and we will continue to cooperate with NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Services) and appropriate authorities,” Palmer said in a statement Sunday to CNN.
NCIS declined CNN’s request for comment “out of respect for the investigative process.”
Detectives interviewed the teen, the family was offered services and she has been returned to her grandmother, according to the sheriff’s department.
