Federal officials announced Monday that an illegal alien from Mexico pleaded guilty to staging a fake kidnapping in 2025 and falsely claiming that federal agents, or people acting on their behalf, had abducted her, as reported [1] by Fox Business.
Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón, 43, of South Los Angeles, fabricated her disappearance to generate media outrage and build a case for a lawsuit against Border Patrol, according to the Office of First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal A. Essayli for the Central District of California. She then went into hiding.
“In June and July of 2025, Calderón faked her apprehension by federal agents or surrogates acting on behalf of federal agents,” officials said.
LA illegal immigrant pleads GUILTY to faking ICE KIDNAPPING
Last year, protests erupted after Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon claimed masked men snatched her at gunpoint & tried forcing her to self-deport
Meanwhile, she was hiding in Bakersfield as activists demanded her release https://t.co/WQw6WzCqqD
— RT Intl (@RT_on_X) October 27, 2026 [2]
According to the attorney’s office, Calderón repeatedly contacted people through anonymous and blocked phone calls as she constructed the fraudulent story. Her claims portrayed federal authorities as responsible for her supposed disappearance and detention.
Officials said Calderón falsely claimed that federal agents abducted her and detained her at multiple locations. As part of the staged release, she also changed her appearance to make it seem as though authorities had mistreated her in custody.
Court documents show that Calderón contacted an individual on June 25, 2025, and falsely claimed immigration officials were taking her into custody near a restaurant. She also claimed that agents had threatened to break her window.
Two days later, Calderón reportedly blocked her caller ID while contacting a tenants’ rights advocate with another false account. She allegedly said authorities had taken her to San Ysidro and forced her to sign deportation papers.
That same day, Calderón reportedly told another person that she had been transferred to an unidentified warehouse. She claimed she was being held there with other detainees.
“As a result of Calderón’s intentional lies, false information was reported to the media and law enforcement that Calderón had been ‘kidnapped’ by masked men in plain clothes driving an unmarked vehicle, who were acting as federal agents or as surrogates of federal agents,” officials said.
While those claims circulated, officials said Calderón “chose to stay hidden in Bakersfield.” Her story nevertheless prompted community organizers to demand her release, even as federal authorities were receiving false information about the supposed kidnapping.
On July 3, 2025, Calderón again reportedly used caller ID blocking to contact an individual. This time, she falsely claimed that she would soon be released because of the media coverage surrounding her supposed detention.
That same day, Calderón traveled from Bakersfield to Tulare County to stage her release from “Border Patrol,” according to officials. She also approached an individual about serving as a witness in her case.
“Calderón also altered her appearance to make it appear that she had been mistreated while in custody. A co-conspirator took photographs of Calderón’s altered appearance,” officials said.
For the next two days, Calderón turned off her phones and refused to return calls, according to the attorney’s office. Officials said she did so while knowing that law enforcement was searching for her.
The fabricated narrative involved repeated calls, several alleged detention locations, and a staged release designed to make the claims appear credible. Federal officials said the deception spread false information to both law enforcement and the media while Calderón remained hidden.
Calderón pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to impede, obstruct, impair, and defeat the lawful function of Homeland Security Investigations within federal jurisdiction. She faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Illegal Alien Pleads Guilty to Faking Her Own ICE “Kidnapping”
The press conference, the media coverage, and the demands for her “release” were all built on a lie. The woman at the center of it has now admitted it in federal court.
Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderón, 43, an illegal alien from Mexico, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to impede, obstruct, impair, and defeat the lawful function of Homeland Security Investigations.
According to her plea agreement, in June 2025 she falsely told people that immigration agents had grabbed her near a fast-food restaurant. She then made blocked-number calls claiming she was being held in a warehouse and pressured to sign removal papers. Those lies reached the media and law enforcement as a “kidnapping” by masked men acting as federal agents.
On June 30, 2025, community organizers in Los Angeles held a press conference repeating her story and demanding her “release.” All the while, she was hiding in Bakersfield and knew about the coverage.
On July 3, she staged her “release” in Tulare County, altered her appearance to look mistreated, and talked about suing Border Patrol.
She faces up to five years at sentencing on February 8, 2027, before Judge Stephen V. Wilson.
Will anyone who spread this hoax about federal agents admit they got it wrong?
— Katie K USA (@KimKatieUSA) October 26, 2026 [3]