Juanita Martinez, Alien Smuggling, New Mexico 2025

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico – U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico announced this week its immigration enforcement statistics for the period ending April 4, 2025.

In a significant case highlighting the use of fraudulent documents and the transportation of undocumented individuals, criminal charges were brought against Juanita Martinez, a U.S. citizen, and Aldo Arvizu-Chaparro, a Mexican national.

Martinez entered the Santa Teresa Port of Entry in New Mexico accompanied by Arvizu-Chaparro, who presented a falsified birth certificate and claimed to be a U.S. citizen. Martinez falsely asserted that Arvizu-Chaparro was her son. During secondary inspection, agents discovered that the birth certificate was fraudulent and confirmed that Arvizu-Chaparro did not have legal authorization to enter the United States.

As a result, Arvizu-Chaparro is facing prosecution for using a false document, while Martinez is being prosecuted for transporting an undocumented individual.

In another case, Abel Banuelos-Rojas is charged with using fraudulent identification to attempt entry into the United States. Banuelos-Rojas presented a U.S. passport card that did not belong to him and admitted during questioning that he is a Mexican citizen illegally residing in the United States. He further disclosed that he had assumed the identity of a U.S. citizen in 1983 by paying $150 for fraudulent identity documents.

Banuelos-Rojas is being prosecuted for using a false passport, paralleling Arvizu-Chaparro’s case in terms of utilizing deceptive documentation to attempt illegal entry.

Juanita Martinez, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen, faces prosecution for transporting an undocumented individual. Martinez is being prosecuted for transporting an undocumented individual. The exact date of the crime is April 4, 2025. No sentence has been handed down yet.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico brought the following criminal charges in New Mexico from April 4, 2025: 56 individuals were charged with Illegal Reentry After Deportation (8 U.S.C. 1326), 11 individuals were charged with Alien Smuggling (8 U.S.C. 1324), and 32 individuals were charged with Illegal Entry (8 U.S.C. 1325).

Many of the defendants charged pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 1326 had prior criminal convictions, with some of those convictions being for aggravated felonies, including convictions for solicitation of a child through electronic communication to engage in sexual conduct, leaving the scene of an accident with fatality, and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.

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