Although illegal border crossings are rare these days, prosecution of immigration-related criminals remains steady.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), during the week of November 22, 2025, through November 28, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona brought immigration-related criminal charges against 190 individuals.
Specifically, the DOJ filed 106 cases in which aliens illegally re-entered the United States, and the United States also charged 71 aliens for illegally entering the United States. In its ongoing effort to deter unlawful immigration, the DOJ filed 11 cases against 13 individuals responsible for smuggling illegal aliens into and within the District of Arizona.
In one case highlighted by the DOJ, United States v. Miguel Angel Marcos, a human smuggler, Miguel Angel Marcos was charged with Transportation of an Illegal Alien. Marcos was pulled over by a Yuma Police Department officer for traveling twenty miles per hour over the speed limit. After stopping the vehicle, the officer observed driver Marcos and one passenger in the front seat. The passenger claimed to have been walking in the desert before being picked up by Marcos. Immigration checks confirmed that the passenger is a citizen of Mexico, unlawfully present in the United States.
In another case, United States v. Jairo Manzur Rodriguez-Nieblas, Jairo Manzur Rodriguez-Nieblas was charged with Transportation of an Illegal Alien and Reentry of a Removed Alien. Yuma County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from an individual stranded in the desert and notified Border Patrol. A Border Patrol Agent located the individual, who was wearing camouflage, in the desert. The individual did not have any documents that would allow him to be lawfully present in the United States. The following day, Border Patrol Agents located Rodriguez-Nieblas and another individual, both of whom were wearing camouflage, in the desert.
Agents determined Rodriguez-Nieblas acted as a guide for the two other individuals apprehended by Border Patrol Agents to travel from Mexico into the United States. Immigration checks confirmed that Rodriguez-Nieblas and the individual he was found with are citizens of Mexico, unlawfully present in the United States. Record checks confirmed that Rodriguez-Nieblas had been removed from the United States on a prior occasion.
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