PHOENIX - Federal prosecutors in Arizona charged 271 individuals with immigration-related crimes during a single week of enforcement operations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced, in one of the largest weekly caseloads filed under the Department of Justice’s nationwide Operation Take Back America initiative.
Of the 271 charged between May 30 and June 5, 137 cases involved illegal immigrants who had re-entered the United States after prior removal — a federal felony under 8 U.S.C. § 1326. Another 113 illegal immigrants were charged with unlawful entry. Federal prosecutors also filed 16 cases against 20 individuals accused of smuggling illegal immigrants into and within the District of Arizona, and one defendant was charged with assaulting a federal officer.
The cases were referred or supported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, ICE Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Among the cases highlighted by prosecutors, Marie Rosa Vavages was charged on June 1 with transportation of illegal immigrants placing in jeopardy the life of any person. On May 31, officers with the Tohono O’odham Police Department attempted to stop her vehicle, but it failed to yield. Vavages drove at a high rate of speed, lost control, and rolled off the road. Border Patrol agents broke the rear window to extract two rear-seat occupants, both citizens of Guatemala illegally present in the United States. Vavages and the two passengers were transported to the hospital.
In a separate case, Kiiza Donald Atuhairwe, a citizen of Uganda, was charged on May 30 with assault on a federal officer. An immigration judge had found Atuhairwe inadmissible on May 6, 2025, and entered a final order of removal. Two ICE officers were escorting Atuhairwe from El Paso, Texas, to Phoenix, Arizona, via commercial flight en route to Kampala, Uganda, when he ran from the officers during a layover, pushing several people out of his way. Atuhairwe stopped, turned toward an ICE officer in a fighting stance, and bit the officer’s left hand and right ring finger, causing the finger to bleed. He was eventually restrained and escorted to a secure area of the airport.
Operation Take Back America is described by the Department of Justice as 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, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.” 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.
The 271 cases now move to federal court proceedings in the District of Arizona, where initial appearances and detention hearings are expected in the coming weeks.