In 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico filed 7,099 criminal cases related to southern border enforcement. These cases included charges such as illegal reentry, alien smuggling, immigration fraud, and false statements. Of these, 152 cases involved drug trafficking.
The office also prosecuted 32 cases involving aliens in possession of firearms during the same period. This effort is part of a broader strategy to enforce federal laws prohibiting individuals without lawful status from possessing firearms.
In addition to its criminal caseload, the office handled a significant number of civil matters in 2025, including 82 habeas corpus cases.
“These cases show how criminal organizations exploit people for profit, move violence across borders, and poison communities with drugs and weapons,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison. “In New Mexico, we are focused on identifying the leaders, dismantling the networks they rely on, and using federal prosecutions to disrupt these operations at every level.”
Highlighted prosecutions from the past year include several human smuggling and organized crime cases:
– In United States v. Diana Perez et al., Otero County Sheriff’s Officers discovered multiple people—including children—being held against their will in a stash house after being smuggled into the country. Organizers required additional payments before releasing victims; one organizer was sentenced to ten years in prison.
– United States v. Alejandro Villalobos-Torres involved a victim who was smuggled into the U.S., held for ransom across multiple locations in Texas and New Mexico before being rescued by authorities.
– In United States v. Jorge Alberto De La Cruz-Dominguez et al., defendants transported up to 40 individuals per week through various stash houses between Santa Teresa, El Paso, and Albuquerque.
– United States v. Nan Zhang et al. saw two individuals charged with conspiracy offenses related to harboring illegal aliens and money laundering connected to rental properties used as stash houses.
Other notable prosecutions included indictments against alleged members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang on racketeering charges tied to violent crimes; dismantling one of the largest fentanyl trafficking operations in U.S. history; and evidence tampering charges against a former magistrate judge and his wife related to suspected gang activity.
These actions form part of efforts under Executive Order 14159—the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative—which coordinates government agencies nationwide to combat criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational organizations, human smuggling rings, and child trafficking operations within U.S. borders.
The HSTF emphasizes interagency collaboration aimed at identifying and prosecuting those responsible for crimes that contribute to violence and instability domestically while focusing resources on removing violent offenders from the country.
