San Diego Follows ICE’s Lead, Arrests Migrants Selling $5 Million of Deadly Drug
This week in San Diego, federal and local authorities just delivered a crushing blow to the drug cartels that have plagued our border communities. Three illegal immigrants – two from Mexico and one from El Salvador – were caught red-handed transporting nearly 8,000 pounds of methamphetamine worth over $5.5 million.
The bust happened Monday evening in the South Bay region when sharp-eyed ICE and Border Patrol agents spotted three suspicious vehicles being loaded with bundles in an Otay Mesa Road parking lot. The criminals thought they were clever, splitting up and heading to different motels. Two vehicles went to San Ysidro, while the third headed to Chula Vista. They didn’t make it.
The arrested men tell a disturbing story about who’s flooding our streets with drugs. Erick Omar Arriola, 27, from El Salvador, isn’t just an illegal immigrant – he’s a violent felon. His rap sheet includes driving under the influence, battery of a spouse, and false imprisonment. The other two, Mexican nationals Eugenio Lizama, 35, and Baltazar Rodriguez Reyes, 49, were his partners in this massive drug operation.
When authorities searched their vehicles, they found 61 bundles of pure poison. That’s 7,700 pounds of methamphetamine that won’t destroy American families. It’s the kind of haul that makes drug dealers weep and communities cheer.
It was one of the biggest seizures of methamphetamine in 2025 in the Southern District of California, and the most significant so far by the new Homeland Security Task Force San Diego, which was recently established by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security at the request of President Trump.
The bust happened Monday evening in the South Bay region when sharp-eyed ICE and Border Patrol agents spotted three suspicious vehicles being loaded with bundles in an Otay Mesa Road parking lot. The criminals thought they were clever, splitting up and heading to different motels. Two vehicles went to San Ysidro, while the third headed to Chula Vista. They didn’t make it.
The arrested men tell a disturbing story about who’s flooding our streets with drugs. Erick Omar Arriola, 27, from El Salvador, isn’t just an illegal immigrant – he’s a violent felon. His rap sheet includes driving under the influence, battery of a spouse, and false imprisonment. The other two, Mexican nationals Eugenio Lizama, 35, and Baltazar Rodriguez Reyes, 49, were his partners in this massive drug operation.
When authorities searched their vehicles, they found 61 bundles of pure poison. That’s 7,700 pounds of methamphetamine that won’t destroy American families. It’s the kind of haul that makes drug dealers weep and communities cheer.
It was one of the biggest seizures of methamphetamine in 2025 in the Southern District of California, and the most significant so far by the new Homeland Security Task Force San Diego, which was recently established by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security at the request of President Trump.
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