Border Patrol Arrests MS-13 Member, Sex Offenders 80 Miles into Texas

Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector arrested several criminal aliens attempting to sneak around immigration checkpoints located about 80 miles north of the Mexican border. They had arrests and/or convictions for sexual offenses and kidnapping. Agents also arrested an MS-13 member.

Kingsville Station agents apprehended an illegal immigrant on Monday near Armstrong, Texas. The town of Armstrong is located south of the Sarita Border Patrol Checkpoint. Officials said the Salvadoran national admitted to being a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, according to information provided to Breitbart Texas by U.S. Border Patrol officials. The member of the hyperviolent transnational gang will be processed for removal and could face charges for illegal entry.

One day earlier, agents assigned to the Sarita Checkpoint (located on U.S. Highway 77 between Brownsville and Kingsville) arrested a U.S. citizen who was allegedly smuggling two illegal immigrants. A records check on the driver revealed an arrest and conviction in Cameron County, Texas, for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child. A court in Cameron County sentenced the man to two years in prison for the 2008 conviction, officials stated. The illegal immigrants will be processed according to sector guidelines.

Agents assigned to the Falfurrias Station in Brooks County (located on U.S. Highway 281 between McAllen and Alice) arrested a Guatemalan man near the town of Encino on Saturday. The roads around Encino are well known human smuggling drop off areas where human smugglers will force the migrants to march through very dangerous conditions around the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint.

The remains of at least 20 migrants were found in Brooks County this year, Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas in a recent phone interview. “These deaths occur when the human smugglers abandon the people they are trying to sneak around the Border Patrol checkpoint located in the middle of our county,” Martinez stated. “These smugglers have no concern for the health and safety of their ‘human cargo.’ When one of the illegal immigrants gets injured, dehydrated, or is otherwise too weak to keep up with the group, the smugglers simply leave them behind to die.”

Agents learned the Guatemalan national arrested near Encino has a criminal history that includes a March 2000 conviction in Plainfield, New Jersey, for Kidnapping to Commit Sexual Assault. The court sentenced the man to 14 years in prison. He will likely face new federal charges for aggravated re-entry after removal as a sex offender.

Later that day, Kingsville Station agents arrested another Guatemalan near Sarita. Border Patrol agents operate an immigration checkpoint near the town of Sarita on U.S. Highway 77. Agents learned the Guatemalan man has a previous arrest in Stanford, Connecticut, for sexual assault.

The Department of Justice has pledged to prosecute all illegal immigrants for illegally crossing the U.S. border, Breitbart News reported.

“If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you — it’s that simple. If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, we will prosecute you,” Sessions said earlier this month.