PATAGONIA, Arizona – Agents along the South Texas Border arrested close to 6,800 illegal immigrants including 19 convicted rapists and three fugitives wanted for sexual abuse of children and child pornography within a two week span. During that time frame agents also seized more than $15.5 million in marijuana.
In the Rio Grande Valley sector from August 28 to September 11, agents arrested 6,800 immigrants with 4,300 of those being from countries other than Mexico. Among the arrests, agents arrested three criminal aliens who had sexually related warrants for their arrests and 19 convicted sexual predators half of which had victimized children, information released to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Border Patrol shows.
One of the criminal aliens had a warrant for child pornography charges out of Houston, another had a warrant for sexual abuse of a child in Washington DC and the third had a sexual abuse of a child warrant out of Plano Texas. The three criminal aliens have since been sent out to their respective areas to face trial.
During that same time span, agents were able to seize 19,400 pounds of marijuana in various operations including the seizure of 1,100 pounds in the rural area called La Casita.
The Rio Grande Valley Sector spans more than 320 miles along the Rio Grande is a hotspot used by members of organized crime to move their drugs and illegal immigrants from Mexico into the U.S. and eventually into northern cities.
Since October 1, 2013 to September 11, 2014, border patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector have arrested close to 250,000 illegal immigrants 190,000 who come from countries other than Mexico. The number of apprehensions show 71 percent increase from the previous fiscal year and 110 percent increase in people from countries other than Mexico.
In the past two years, the sector saw a jump in illegal immigration from an apparent shift in human smuggling routes that sent thousands of immigrants from countries other than Mexico into the area creating a crisis that overwhelmed detention facilities.
Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter: @ildefonsoortiz
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