Federal prosecutors in Arizona charged 336 individuals with immigration-related offenses during a single week of enforcement operations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced on Friday.
Authorities filed the charges between October 24 and October 30, following joint operations conducted by multiple federal agencies, including U.S. Border Patrol, ICE, the DEA, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the ATF.
Court filings encompass 171 illegal re-entry cases and 143 illegal entry charges. Federal authorities also initiated 18 cases against 22 individuals accused of smuggling unauthorized migrants into and across the state.
Among the cases highlighted by prosecutors involves Marquise Deone Isomi and Rayla Storm Hunt Gagliardi, who faced charges by criminal complaint on October 24 for the transportation of an illegal alien.
According to court documents, a Florence police officer stopped a speeding GMC Sierra pickup truck equipped with a camper shell on Highway 79 on October 22. Isomi operated the vehicle, with Gagliardi seated in the front passenger seat. Two juveniles dressed in camouflage sat behind them, surrounded by clutter, neither wearing a seatbelt.
A second officer present at the scene observed the pickup rocking as weight shifted within the truck bed. Using a flashlight, the officer peered through a gap between the truck body and the camper shell and discovered several individuals wearing camouflage and shoe covers.
Border Patrol agents summoned to the scene found 11 people crammed into the truck bed, including one juvenile. Agents confirmed that all 11 occupants in the bed and the two minors inside the cabin were Mexican or Guatemalan citizens present in the country illegally. Two of the three total juveniles were unaccompanied minors.
Investigators subsequently determined that Isomi and Gagliardi used the messaging application WhatsApp to communicate with smuggling coordinators and had conducted similar smuggling operations on multiple prior occasions.
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