PHOENIX, Ariz. — On November 21, 2025, United States District Judge Krissa M. Lanham, District of Arizona, sentenced the eighteenth and final defendant in a joint operation investigated by the United States Border Patrol along with the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Arizona, the agency said on Thursday.

The United States Border Patrol became aware of an alien smuggling organization known as La Mesa after connecting transportation of illegal alien cases in the District of Arizona and the Central and Southern Districts of California. Prior to the arrest of the eighteen members in September 2024, La Mesa, who worked on behalf of the Mexico-based transnational criminal organization Los Rusos, operated out of Yuma and Somerton, Arizona.

According to the agency’s statement,

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