Operation Take Back America is a sweeping enforcement push targeting illegal immigration, cartels, trafficking, and gang-related crime.
The Trump administration has charged more than 840 illegal immigrants with immigration-related offenses in a single week as part of Operation Take Back America, a sweeping enforcement push targeting border crimes, human smuggling, and gang activity.
Federal prosecutors across six border districts located in Arizona, Texas, California, and New Mexico filed hundreds of cases in the third week of March against individuals for crimes ranging from illegal reentry and unlawful entry to human smuggling and drug trafficking, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a March 24
statement. Many of those charged had prior felony convictions, including for violent or sexual offenses.
In Arizona alone, 217 individuals were
charged, with dozens facing smuggling charges. The Southern District of Texas
filed 246 cases, including 91 for illegal reentry—many involving individuals with serious criminal records. California districts
brought cases involving previously deported felons,
including suspects in murder and assault with intent to rape.
New Mexico and
Western Texas also reported high volumes of prosecutions.
“We are grateful for the hard work of our border prosecutors in bringing these cases and helping to make our border safe again,” the DOJ said in a statement.
Operation Take Back America was first announced in a March 6
memo by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to implement a series of President Donald Trump’s core policy objectives in a single, sweeping initiative using resources from the DOJ’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
Blanche’s memorandum outlines that the operation will target illegal immigration, drug and human trafficking, and criminal organizations, including cartels named in
Executive Order 14157. It will involve prosecutions related to immigration enforcement, including actions against sanctuary jurisdictions. Prosecutors are instructed to pursue the most serious, provable charges—capital crimes when applicable—and to seek detention when necessary for public safety.
Separately, the DOJ
announced plans to extradite three alleged members of Tren de Aragua (TdA)—a violent Venezuelan gang now designated a terrorist organization—who entered the United States illegally after allegedly committing major crimes in Chile, including murder and kidnapping. The three alleged gang members have been designated “alien enemies” following Trump’s
proclamation invoking a rarely used 18th-century law to declare members of Tren de Aragua “alien enemies” invading the United States in coordination with the Venezuelan regime.
“The Justice Department is taking every step within the bounds of the law to ensure these individuals are promptly sent to Chile to face justice for their abhorrent crimes,” Blanche said in a statement. “In fact, we would have already removed these violent gang members to Chile to face justice were it not for the nationwide injunction imposed by a single judge in Washington D.C., which we are challenging today in the D.C. Circuit. We hope common sense and justice will prevail.”
Blanche was referring to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg and his injunction blocking the government’s ability to deport Tren de Aragua gang members on the basis of the Alien Enemies Act, which allows individuals deemed “alien enemies” to be removed from the country with little due process.
In a related move, the Department of Homeland Security
has extended its “Mass Influx of Aliens” emergency declaration, first issued after Trump’s inauguration in January. The renewed
designation, effective March 25, grants expanded powers to federal and local law enforcement to combat illegal immigration.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cited continued pressure on the border after four years of record-level numbers of crossings under President Joe Biden—estimated at more than 8 million since 2021—as justification for the move. The extension supports Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
“While encounters along the southwest border declined in February 2025, historical trends over the past four years strongly indicate that without this [Mass Influx of Aliens] finding, aliens are likely to resume crossing the border, and border crossing numbers are likely to rise again before DHS can gain operational control,” Noem stated in the notice.
“It is precisely measures, such as this one, that have kept the numbers under control.”
