DOJ District of New Mexico Weekly Immigration and Border Crimes Report 5-30-2025

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico announced its immigration enforcement statistics for this week. These cases are prosecuted in partnership with the El Paso Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, along with Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, and assistance from other federal, state, and county agencies.

In the one-week period ending May 30, 2025, the United States Attorney’s Office brought the following criminal charges in New Mexico:

• 51 individuals were charged this week with Illegal Reentry After Deportation (8 U.S.C. 1326)
• 9 individuals were charged this week with Alien Smuggling (8 U.S.C. 1324)
• 79 individuals were charged this week with Illegal Entry (8 U.S.C. 1325)
• 13 individuals were charged this week with Illegal Entry (8 U.S.C. 1325), violation of a military security regulation (50 U.S.C. 797) and Entering Military, Naval, or Coast Guard Property (18 U.S.C. 1382), arising from the newly established National Defense Area in New Mexico.

Many of the defendants charged pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1326 had prior criminal convictions for drug possession and firearms offenses.

In one significant case, Moustafa Mahmoud Abdelnabi Salem, a citizen of Egypt who was lawfully in the U.S., was charged by criminal complaint with being an alien in possession of a firearm after he pulled a firearm out of his vehicle at a gas station and pointed it at a homeless man who was not threatening him.

In another case, Valerie Perez was sentenced to 10 years in prison for operating an alien stash house. Family members of the aliens contacted authorities after Perez demanded additional payment to release the aliens. The aliens were also threatened with physical harm if additional payments were not received. At the time of her arrest, Perez was on supervised release for a prior alien smuggling conviction.

These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

These statistics represent prosecutions by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico only. The numbers do not include individuals apprehended by immigration enforcement officials and subjected solely to administrative process.

Under current leadership, public safety and a secure border are the top priorities for the District of New Mexico. Enhanced enforcement both at the border and in the interior of the district have yielded aliens engaged in unlawful activity or with serious criminal history, including human trafficking, sexual assault and violence against children.

The District of New Mexico consists of 33 counties and shares 180 miles of international border with Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorneys from Albuquerque and Las Cruces work directly with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to prosecute immigration-related and other federal offenses.

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