During the week of December 6 to December 12, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona filed immigration-related criminal charges against 173 individuals. Of these, 93 cases involved illegal re-entry into the United States, while 73 individuals were charged with illegal entry. Seven cases targeted people accused of smuggling undocumented immigrants within or into Arizona.
Federal law enforcement agencies supported these efforts, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
One recent case is United States v. Mario Alberto Herrera Jr., in which Herrera was charged on December 11 with Transportation of an Illegal Alien. According to authorities, an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper stopped Herrera on I-10 Westbound after a registration check revealed his vehicle’s registration was suspended. The trooper found Herrera driving with two passengers in the backseat. Investigators determined that Herrera had been paid to transport both passengers to Phoenix and that he was already on probation for a previous conviction related to transporting an illegal alien in federal court in Arizona. Immigration checks showed both passengers were citizens of Guatemala who were unlawfully present in the country.
Another case is United States v. Miguel Hernandez-Cortez. On December 8, Hernandez-Cortez was charged with Re-entry of Removed Alien after being previously deported from the United States in March 2015 following a felony conviction for Aggravated Sexual Assault in Bailey County, Texas.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office noted: “A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
