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Tag: human smuggling

  • Illegal crossings at lowest level since 1960s in San Diego Sector, Border Patrol says

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    A Border Patrol agent drives down to the beach. (Photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)

    The U.S. Border Patrol Monday announced a significant reduction in illegal border crossings in the San Diego Sector, but an increase in narcotics seizures.

    “Through the first two months of the new fiscal year, the sector has recorded 1,793 apprehensions,” according to a USBP statement. “This represents a 93% decrease over the same period a year ago, when the sector had already recorded 24,735 apprehensions. This low a level of activity has not been seen in the sector since the 1960s.”

    Chief Border Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre attributed the decrease to a combination of factors, most notably tougher immigration and border security policies.

    “By no longer releasing people into the U.S, we have removed the incentive for those considering illegal entry via smuggling routes,” De La Torre said. “We no longer have people illegally entering and surrendering to agents, expecting to be released, which allows Border Patrol agents to return to patrol and interdiction efforts rather than processing and releasing hundreds of illegal aliens a day. This significant reduction in illegal border crossings underscores the value of strong border security policy and a whole-of-government approach.”

    De La Torre also cited stepped-up deportation efforts nationally.

    “Less money is going to the criminal organizations that facilitate human smuggling and generate violence in Mexico,” he said. “We are now seeing far fewer people being exploited and endangering their lives by using criminal smuggling networks to illegally enter the country.”

    De La Torre said the region is also off to a strong start in narcotics seizures.

    “San Diego Sector had a record-breaking year in fiscal 2025, seizing 11,311 pounds of methamphetamine,” he said. “It looks to continue that momentum, having already taken 970 pounds of methamphetamine, 555 pounds of cocaine and 113 pounds of fentanyl off the streets in the first two months of fiscal 2026.”

    To report suspicious activity to the U.S. Border Patrol, call 911 or the San Diego Sector at 619-498-9900.


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  • Three men identified after deaths in panga boat accident near Imperial Beach

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    The vessel that capsized off the coast of Imperial Beach, Nov. 14, 2025. The Coast Guard launched rescue crews from Sector San Diego, Air Station San Diego, Maritime Safety and Security Team Honolulu and Cutter Petrel. (File photo courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard)

    Authorities on Tuesday released the names of three of the four people who died in a panga boat accident in South County during an alleged smuggling operation.

    The bodies of Bartolo Baltazar Baltazar and Luis Mazariegos De Leon, both 48, and Hector Gomez Lopez, 50, were discovered and brought ashore around 4 a.m. Saturday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office.

    The boat the men had been traveling in is believed to have capsized off of Imperial Beach sometime Friday. Each victim was found in the water unresponsive and pronounced dead.

    De Leon drowned, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office, which did not release causes of death for the other two men.

    The Border Patrol said Saturday that four people died, and five others were injured, when their boat overturned in stormy waters Friday. Investigators called the ill-fated trip a “maritime smuggling event.”

    One body was located near where the boat capsized, authorities said, while three more were recovered near the IB pier.

    According to the U.S. Coast Guard, which took part in the rescue and recovery, several of the survivors claimed Mexican nationality, but the others’ countries of origin were unclear.


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  • Abrego Garcia’s lawyers seek gag order on Trump administration officials after perp walk video – WTOP News

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    Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia have asked a federal judge to order Trump administration officials to stop making negative comments about him that they say could jeopardize his right to a fair trial.

    Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national who was erroneously deported to El Salvador earlier this year, have asked a federal judge to order Trump administration officials to stop making negative comments about him that they say could jeopardize his right to a fair trial on human smuggling charges in Tennessee.

    In a Thursday filing, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said top U.S. government officials from the White House, Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security “have attacked Mr. Abrego in the media in numerous highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements.”

    His lawyers said officials have “expressed the opinion that he is guilty of the crimes charged and far worse.”

    The Maryland construction worker, 30, was detained Monday in Baltimore by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after leaving a Tennessee jail last Friday, Aug. 22. Administration officials have said he’s part of the dangerous MS-13 gang, and plan to deport him to the African country of Uganda.

    Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have denied allegations that he is part of the gang. In the filing, they referenced statements from officials that label him as someone who’s committed various crimes, even though he hasn’t been convicted of any crimes.

    The charges in Tennessee are connected to a 2022 traffic stop, during which officers said he was pulled over for speeding. Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in cash on him and nine passengers in the SUV. Officers had a conversation about their suspicions of smuggling, but he was allowed to drive away with only a warning.

    The indictment alleges from 2016 to 2025 Abrego Garcia was involved in a conspiracy to transport migrants who were already in the country. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty.

    This past Monday, shortly after Abrego Garcia was taken into custody, the Department of Homeland Security, on its official X account, posted video of him, handcuffed and shackled, being walked toward an elevator in the Baltimore field office by an ICE agent.

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a statement announcing Abrego Garcia’s ICE arrest: “President Trump is not going to allow this illegal alien, who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator, to terrorize American citizens any longer.”

    The unproven allegations in the DHS statement are included in the charging documents in the U.S.’s Tennessee case against Abrego Garcia. Government officials have acknowledged the in-depth investigation, and eventual indictment against Abrego Garcia began after he had already filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland, challenging his deportation to El Salvador.

    During broadcast and published interviews since Abrego Garcia was taken into ICE custody Monday, government officials have described him as “a gang member and designated terrorist,” as well as a “wife beater, pedophile, human trafficker.”

    Noem’s comments included, “He’s a horrible individual who needs to be held accountable for his crimes.”

    This is the third request to the judge to stem extrajudicial comments from U.S. officials from any agency who could play a role in Abrego Garcia’s prosecution.

    “If the government is allowed to continue this way, it will taint any conceivable jury pool by exposing the entire country to irrelevant, prejudicial, and false claims against Mr. Abrego,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote.

    After being taken into ICE custody earlier this week, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said he is seeking asylum in the U.S.

    Maryland District Court Judge Paula Xinis, who is overseeing a suit challenging Abrego Garcia’s detention and deportation, has ruled the government cannot remove him from the continental U.S. before an evidentiary hearing for the lawsuit on Oct. 6.

    She also ordered that he be kept within 200 miles of her court in Greenbelt to ensure he can access his lawyers. He’s being held at a detention facility in Farmville, Virginia, which is west of Richmond, according to ICE’s website.

    In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security said the media has peddled a sob story about Abrego Garcia that has “completely fallen apart.”

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    Neal Augenstein

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  • US seeks to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he refuses plea offer

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    Immigration officials said they intend to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, after he declined an offer to be deported to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges, according to a Saturday court filing.The Costa Rica offer came late Thursday, after it was clear that the Salvadoran national would likely be released from a Tennessee jail the following day. Abrego Garcia declined to extend his stay in jail and was released on Friday to await trial in Maryland with his family. Later that day, the Department of Homeland Security notified his attorneys that he would be deported to Uganda and should report to immigration authorities on Monday.His attorneys declined to comment on whether the plea offer had been formally rescinded. The brief they filed only said that Abrego Garcia had declined one part of the offer — to remain in jail — and that his attorneys would “communicate the government’s proposal to Mr. Abrego.”Abrego Garcia’s case became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda after he was mistakenly deported in March. Facing a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to the U.S. in June, only to detain him on human smuggling charges.He has pleaded not guilty and has asked the judge to dismiss the case, claiming that it is an attempt to punish him for challenging his deportation to El Salvador. The Saturday filing came as a supplement to that motion to dismiss, stating that the threat to deport him to Uganda is more proof that the prosecution is vindictive.“The government immediately responded to Mr. Abrego’s release with outrage,” the filing reads. “Despite having requested and received assurances from the government of Costa Rica that Mr. Abrego would be accepted there, within minutes of his release from pretrial custody, an ICE representative informed Mr. Abrego’s counsel that the government intended to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda and ordered him to report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office Monday morning.”Although Abrego Garcia was deemed eligible for pretrial release, he had remained in jail at the request of his attorneys, who feared the Republican administration could try to immediately deport him again if he were freed. Those fears were somewhat allayed by a recent ruling in a separate case in Maryland, which requires immigration officials to allow Abrego Garcia time to mount a defense.

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. —

    Immigration officials said they intend to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, after he declined an offer to be deported to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges, according to a Saturday court filing.

    The Costa Rica offer came late Thursday, after it was clear that the Salvadoran national would likely be released from a Tennessee jail the following day. Abrego Garcia declined to extend his stay in jail and was released on Friday to await trial in Maryland with his family. Later that day, the Department of Homeland Security notified his attorneys that he would be deported to Uganda and should report to immigration authorities on Monday.

    His attorneys declined to comment on whether the plea offer had been formally rescinded. The brief they filed only said that Abrego Garcia had declined one part of the offer — to remain in jail — and that his attorneys would “communicate the government’s proposal to Mr. Abrego.”

    Abrego Garcia’s case became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda after he was mistakenly deported in March. Facing a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to the U.S. in June, only to detain him on human smuggling charges.

    He has pleaded not guilty and has asked the judge to dismiss the case, claiming that it is an attempt to punish him for challenging his deportation to El Salvador. The Saturday filing came as a supplement to that motion to dismiss, stating that the threat to deport him to Uganda is more proof that the prosecution is vindictive.

    “The government immediately responded to Mr. Abrego’s release with outrage,” the filing reads. “Despite having requested and received assurances from the government of Costa Rica that Mr. Abrego would be accepted there, within minutes of his release from pretrial custody, an ICE representative informed Mr. Abrego’s counsel that the government intended to deport Mr. Abrego to Uganda and ordered him to report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office Monday morning.”

    Although Abrego Garcia was deemed eligible for pretrial release, he had remained in jail at the request of his attorneys, who feared the Republican administration could try to immediately deport him again if he were freed. Those fears were somewhat allayed by a recent ruling in a separate case in Maryland, which requires immigration officials to allow Abrego Garcia time to mount a defense.

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  • 8 people killed when driver suspected of human smuggling crashes in Texas

    8 people killed when driver suspected of human smuggling crashes in Texas

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    Eight people were killed when a driver suspected of human smuggling tried to evade authorities and crashed head-on into another vehicle, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wednesday.

    The crash occurred around 6:30 a.m. on U.S. Highway 57 near Batesville, about 83 miles southwest of San Antonio.

    The driver, 21, who was in a Honda, had evaded authorities from the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office and “passed an 18-wheeler in a no-passing zone,” Lt. Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said by email and in a post on X.

    The driver crashed head-on into a Chevrolet SUV, causing the vehicle to burst into flames, Olivarez said. Photos released by the agency showed both vehicles completely mangled, with debris scattered across the highway.

    Six people were in the Honda, Olivarez said. Two people from Georgia were in the Chevrolet SUV. Everyone was killed, officials said.

    Several of the people in the Honda were from Honduras, Olivarez said.

    Names of some of the dead were being withheld until family members can be notified, authorities said. The crash remains under investigation.

    The two people in the Chevrolet SUV that were killed were identified as Jose Lerma, 67, and Isabel Lerma, 65, of Dalton, Georgia.

    Last year, more than 50 migrants were found dead in an abandoned big rig in the sweltering heat of San Antonio in what is believed to be the deadliest human smuggling case in modern U.S. history. The discovery was made when a person who worked in the area heard someone crying for help and spotted at least one body, officials said.

    Multiple crashes, some fatal, have also been linked to human smuggling cases. Last November, one person was killed and 11 others were hospitalized in La Joya, Texas, about 5 miles from the Mexico border, when the driver evaded law enforcement and disregarded a red light. Authorities suspected the case involved human smuggling because of the number of people involved.

    A similar crash occurred in Encinal, Texas, in June 2022 when four migrants were killed and two others were injured when a vehicle carrying the migrants crashed into a TNI Trucking Co. vehicle.

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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