Several migrants attempting to enter the United States illegally through Texas this week were found to have long criminal histories, including one wanted for a homicide in his home country and another with a conviction for raping a child, authorities said Friday.
The most recent encounter between migrants and agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Rio Grande Valley Sector occurred Friday when two groups were apprehended near the border city of McAllen. Among one group was a gang member from Mexico with a criminal history of child cruelty for which he was sentenced to two years in prison. A Honduran citizen in the other group has an arrest for a homicide in his country, a CBP statement said.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION LIFTS TRUMP-ERA RESTRICTIONS AT U.S.-MEXICO BORDER
The agents made multiple arrests beginning on March 28 when a Mexican citizen was taken into custody while trying to allegedly smuggle marijuana. While doing a background check, agents learned he was previously arrested in 2019 by the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office for an alleged murder attempt.
He was convicted and sentenced to two years of confinement and deported.
Later that afternoon, agents with the Kingsville Border Patrol Station apprehended 67 migrants being smuggled in a tractor-trailer at a border checkpoint. A Salvadoran citizen among the group admitted to being an MS-13 gang member who was previously deported from the United States in 2018.
The next day, another group of 35 migrants was taken into custody. A 24-year-old Salvadoran man revealed he was wanted for a murder in El Salvador, authorities said.
Texas Department of Public Safety officers found 76 migrants being smuggled inside a trailer in Dimmit County, Texas, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The suspected driver is a Honduran national who was in the U.S. illegally and was arrested for human smuggling, the Texas DPS said.
(Texas Department of Public Safety)
On Wednesday, a Mexican citizen identified as Edward Gonzalez was among a group of ten migrants apprehended. He received an 11-year prison sentence in Indiana for rape and was deported.
Several encounters between border agents and migrants occurred on Thursday as well.
They encountered a Honduran gang member with a conviction for assault causing bodily harm to a family member in Fort Worth, Texas in 2008. He was also sentenced to one year after being in the U.S. following multiple deportations.
Later that morning, a Mexican national was found among a group of 16 migrants. He was sentenced in 2014 to 14 months confinement for the rape of a child and 36 months in 2012 for viewing depictions of a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct, authorities said.
Migrants camp under the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas in September. Border agents nabbed MS-13 gang members and others with long criminal histories in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley within a span of several days, this week, authorities said Friday.
(Rep. August Pfluger)
That same day, agents processing migrants discovered one was a gang member in El Salvador.
The arrests come as immigration hawks presser the Biden administration to address the surge of migrants at the southern border. On Friday, the administration announced it will terminate end Title 42, a Trump-era health order that allows for the expulsion of migrants at the border that was implemented due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Source: Fox News
