The Best and Brightest

Andres Avelino Anduaga, an illegal alien from Mexico previously arrested on gun, drug, and forgery charges, pleaded guilty Thursday to theft of public property and being a removed alien found in United States.

Anduaga’s plea agreement, entered with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, contains admissions that he assumed the identity of a Texas-born American citizen more than 37 years ago in 1980. Using it and 21 other invented or assumed identities, he claimed more than quarter million dollars of “Supplemental Security Income” benefits, over a hundred thousand dollars in public healthcare benefits, and, separately $12,000 in CalFresh / Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) all while being deported twice, arrested repeatedly on a variety of felony charges, and traveling between Mexico and the United States with impunity with his fraudulently obtained American passport.

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Kristina Davis assembles a vivid narrative 0f the man now known to be Anduaga—although it is still not completely certain that is his birth name. The Mexican illegal alien managed to get a California driver’s license, a Social Security card, and a U.S. passport, all while claiming to be Abraham Riojos, a similar-aged Texan later found to be living in Florida and completely unaware an illegal alien was using his identity to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal government.

The scheme was discovered only when a landlord admitted to a California Department of Health Care Services investigator that the man now known as Anduaga did not actually live at the address from which he was trying to claim additional benefits.

The man known as Anduaga used his ill-gotten passport to travel to Mexico “several times a week” and was arrested on one of these crossings when his Social Security scam was uncovered. He used a fake name, but was discovered to have a rap sheet dating back to 1974 on which he had used no fewer than 20 other such false identities.

“The programs that this defendant stole from—for decades—provide benefits to America’s most needy,” U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman, San Diego’s top federal prosecutor, said in a Justice Department press release. “This prosecution demonstrates the commitment of the United States Attorney’s Office to protecting the integrity of our welfare programs and punishing those who prey on the goodwill of our nation and its taxpayers.”

“The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General is committed to pursuing those individuals who violate the public trust wherever they may be found,” Robb Stickley of the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General added. “We will continue to uphold the integrity of the Supplemental Security Income program and other federal and state needs-based assistance programs that are a lifeline for so many Americans and their families.”

U.S. Border Patrol Spokesman Michael Scappechio also weighed in, saying, “Criminal cases in the border region oftentimes have an immigration nexus. In the spirit of law enforcement collaboration, the U.S. Border Patrol supports local, state and other federal partners in the prosecution of people who violate our nation’s immigration laws.”

Anduaga faces up to twelve years in federal prison on the charges to which he pleaded guilty and will be ordered to pay restitution and fines that could amount to well over one million dollars.

Lizbeth Mateo, the illegal alien who was appointed to state office in California on Wednesday, was arrested in 2013 for trying to cross back into the United States after “self-deporting” to Mexico.
As Breitbart News reported five years ago, Mateo was one of the “Dream 9,” a group of illegal aliens brought into the country as children who staged a protest by leaving the U.S. and attempting to gain re-entry — also illegally.

The nine — six of whom had already left the U.S. for Mexico — were detained at the U.S. border and held at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona after trying to cross the border in academic caps and gowns.



The “Dream 9” — five women and four men — became a cause célèbre among amnesty activists. Thanks in part to the attention they generated, and the pressure their supporters put on the Obama administration, immigration officials let them return to the country.

Mateo and the others applied for asylum, claiming “credible fear of persecution or torture in their birth country,” the Los Angeles Times reported — though, as ABC News reported, Mateo had returned to her home town in Oaxaca and posed with relatives for photographs.

“Just being here for a week with my family and seeing how happy they are and how excited they are, I think it’s worth it,” the supposed asylum-seeker told ABC.

So Mateo, who calls herself a “Dreamer” — one of those brought to the U.S. illegally “through no fault of their own,” as President Barack Obama said — chose to repeat her parents’ illegal crossing.

Instead of being punished and deported, she has been rewarded with a legal education, membership in the California State Bar, a career as an attorney, and elevation to state office.

Mateo is the first illegal alien appointed to statewide office in California.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation officers spent three days arresting 115 immigration law violators in southern California, but some targeted for arrest remain at large.
ICE listed two foreign citizens who remain at large. Both had been previously removed and are citizens of Mexico. One was previously convicted of statutory rape and the other is a known street gang member who was previously convicted of domestic violence.

One citizen of Kazakhstan and two Mexican nationals were specifically identified in the ICE release as among the 115 arrested.

“Depending on the alien’s criminal history, an alien who illegally reenters the United States, after having been previously removed, has committed a felony punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison,” according to the ICE release. Fifty of those arrested are convicted criminals. ICE made 108 of the arrests in San Diego County. The remaining seven were arrested in Imperial County.

Four of those arrested face federal criminal prosecution for re-entering the United States after prior deportation. Some are being processed for removal or if under outstanding orders of removal, are subject to immediate removal. Others face an immigration hearing.

The release brought particular attention to the sanctuary policies of California:


“This week’s operation targeted public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens, individuals with final orders of removal, those who illegally re-entered the country after being removed, and individuals who have otherwise violated our nation’s immigration law,” said San Diego field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, (ERO) Greg Archambeault.

Archambeault continued:


The arrests come shortly after ICE enforcement actions in northern California that saw 232 taken into custody. Ahead of the arrests, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf got wind of the planned arrests and alerted the region. Among those who had been targeted for arrest, but who evaded capture and may still be on the streets of America, were illegal aliens previously convicted of crimes including sex with a child, sodomy, DUI, and armed robbery.