33-year-old Ivan Balmorez-Araujo, an alleged street gang member, was arrested by Border Patrol agents as he entered Calexico, California on April 25. A spokesman with the El Centro Border Patrol (CBP) told Breitbart Texas that Balmorez-Araujo was in the U.S. illegally at the time of the apprehension.
“Agents observed him as he was crossing international boundary fence by one of our remote video surveillance cameras,” the CBP spokesman told Breitbart Texas. “The cameras tipped agents off–they have quite a distance that they can scan.”
In the area where Balmorez jumped, he subsequently would have had to swim or raft across the All-American Canal. This gave agents enough time to find and apprehend him before he left the scope of the surveillance cameras on-scene.
After agents apprehended Balmorez and brought him to the station, they ran his fingerprints. This was when his gang association reportedly became apparent.
Balmorez was ultimately determined to be an alleged active member of the dangerous criminal gang, the “Rudos Boys,” according to a press release from the CPB. The Rudos Boys has strong ties to “Surenos 13,” a large gang with a stronghold in southern California. The CPB spokesman said Surenos 13 is notorious for human and drug trafficking in the area where Balmorez was apprehended.
The CPB release further claimed that Balmorez had previous felony convictions for attempted murder and burglary. He received an eight year prison sentence in 2005.
The gang member is reportedly in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol. He will now be “processed for re-entry of a removed alien.”
“We do encounter quite a few gang members in the area that we patrol,” the CPB spokesman told Breitbart Texas. “It’s not uncommon to pick up member gang members who are in the U.S. illegally.”
The CPB stated that Balmorez marks the 10th alleged gang member arrested so far this year.
Follow Kristin Tate on Twitter @KristinBTate
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