This is our why.

Thank you to the Angel Families who joined me over the last couple of days in the Senate and House Judiciary Committee hearings. Their strength inspires me to continue to fight for the scores of Americans who have lost their lives because of Biden's destructive open border policy.

This administration will always put the safety of Americans first.

Secretary Kristi Noem

The Dog Fighting and Animal Abuse Task Force, formed last year with federal and county prosecutors in Los Angeles, has made an arrest.

Raymond Nunez, 53, of Hacienda Heights, was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint charging him with buying, delivering, and possessing animals for an animal fighting venture, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, from at least December 2025 to February 2026, Nunez illegally exhibited, bred, and trained dogs for dog fighting at his home. He also possessed firearms, which he is not legally permitted to do because of his 1991 felony conviction in Los Angeles Superior Court for unlawful taking of a vehicle.

Federal agents executing a search warrant at Nunez’s home seized, among other things: an AK-47-style assault rifle and a shotgun; 10 firearms in a safe in the master bedroom; an emaciated pit bull that was bleeding and chained to a cable in the yard; a second pit bull with scars in a bloody caged area; five dog treadmills; a rope with a scale for weighing dogs; and a skin stapler and syringes.

A federal magistrate judge ordered Nunez released on $20,000 bond. No plea was taken today. Nunez’s arraignment is scheduled for April 9. If convicted, he faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

I commend our law enforcement partners at the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service for making today’s arrest possible. We will not tolerate the abuse of animals for profit.

US Attorney Bill Essayli