Federal and local authorities in San Diego arrested three men in the U.S. illegally – two from Mexico and one from El Salvador – after they allegedly transported nearly 8,000 pounds of methamphetamine worth more than $5 million earlier this week.

The incident took place on Monday around 7 p.m. during a joint narcotics investigation in the South Bay region, the San Diego County Sheriff's Office announced Thursday evening.

SDCSO detectives and U.S. Border Patrol agents observed three vehicles they believed were being loaded with bundles of drugs. A federal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of California said the vehicles were being loaded in a parking lot on Otay Mesa Road.

CBP OFFICERS SEIZE OVER $14M OF ALLEGED METHAMPHETAMINE AT SOUTHERN BORDER 

Two of those vehicles were driven toward a motel in San Ysidro, while the third vehicle went to a motel in Chula Vista, the sheriff's office said. All three drivers were ultimately arrested.

They were identified by the Justice Department as 27-year-old Erick Omar Arriola, of El Salvador, and Mexican nationals Eugenio Lizama, 35, and Baltazar Rodriguez Reyes, 49.

Arriola is a felon convicted of driving under the influence, battery of a spouse and false imprisonment, the DOJ said.

'ZOMBIE DRUG' SMUGGLED ACROSS SOUTHERN BORDER A GROWING THREAT TO AMERICANS, DOCTOR WARNS 

When authorities searched their vehicles, they found a total of 61 bundles of methamphetamine, weighing more than 7,700 pounds and valued at around $5.5 million.

"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 DOJ said.

All three men were booked into the San Diego Central Jail and face charges related to conspiracy, transportation and possession of controlled substances for sales.

Harvard filed an amended complaint in federal court on Thursday arguing that the Trump administration’s decision to ban entry to foreign students with F and J visas if they plan to attend the Ivy League is unconstitutional.

Over 7,000 students at Harvard hold F-1 or J-1 visas. Without those certifications, they can’t study, teach, or conduct research in the U.S. The ban also affects their families and dependents.

According to the university's lawsuit, the proclamation "lacks any lawful basis" and does not apply to any broad group of immigrants.

"Nonimmigrants may enter the country unabated, as long as they do not attend Harvard," the complaint states.

TRUMP IS DOWN BUT NOT OUT IN COURT BATTLE OVER HARVARD'S FOREIGN STUDENT VISAS

Harvard argues the measure does not target a "class of aliens," but instead singles out Harvard-bound students, calling it a "government vendetta" rather than a national security measure.

In April, a federal task force led by the Trump administration sent the university a list of demands, including ideological screening of students and faculty, "viewpoint diversity" quotas in hiring and admissions, and punishment of student activist groups. 

The administration also demanded Harvard report foreign funding sources and allow government oversight of internal policies.

When Harvard refused, the government froze $2.2 billion in research funding. Trump later posted on Truth Social that Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status if it continued to "push radical ideology." In another post, he accused the school of hiring "woke, Radical Left, idiots" and claimed it was no longer a great university.

TRUMP ACCUSES HARVARD OF BEING 'VERY SLOW' TO TURN OVER FOREIGN STUDENT INFO

The Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard’s SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) certification a few days later, which allows the school to sponsor international students, but a federal judge blocked that decision.

Harvard now says that the administration is using Trump's proclamation to do what the courts have already stopped.

The government claims Harvard failed to provide complete information on its international student population, but the university says it has submitted all records required by law and that the revocation is a pretext. 

"There is no lawful justification for the government’s unprecedented actions," the university said in Thursday's filing.

The amended complaint also reveals that Harvard is being represented by Robert Hur, the former special counsel who interviewed former President Joe Biden.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded to the lawsuit by saying it "seeks to kneecap the President’s constitutionally vested powers under Article II. It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students.

"The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our student visa system; no lawsuit, this or any other, is going to change that. We have the law, the facts, and common sense on our side."

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International students now face uncertainty as the legal battle wages on. Jing, a 23-year-old Chinese graduate student interning in Asia, told The Associated Press: "It is tiring; we all feel numb now." 

Another student, Yonas Nuguse from Ethiopia, who was accepted after surviving war and a school shutdown, also told The AP, "I hope the situation is temporary and I can enroll on time."

Fox News' Louis Casiano and David Spunt contributed to this report.